Verbal Confessions
by EmbraceDiversity
Summary: When Sakura is unable to lead the mission in Suna to establish a working medical program between the two villages, Hinata volunteers to go in her place. Her interactions with the Kazekage lead to irreversible changes for the both of them. GaaHina.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: This fanfic focuses on Hinata and Gaara and the POV is usually through one of them with a few exceptions. This story has one chapter (chapter 8) that holds a sex scene and can be skipped without missing anything vital.

Chapter One

Suna's weather wasn't nearly as devastating as she had thought it would be. While it _was_ hot and dry it wasn't 'flesh melting' as Kiba had insisted upon. Of course, he had also sworn that the moment she stepped into the desert that all the water would evaporate from her body and she'd get there as nothing more than muscles and bones, if she were so lucky. She was pretty sure those were simply his methods of saying 'don't leave Konoha for six months to go off on some Ambassador-style mission when you could stay home and do more awesome missions with your old squad' but she hadn't pointed it out due to wanting to save him some 'manly pride'.

_Don't worry Kiba-kun, I'll miss you too._

As Hyuuga Hinata made her final few steps towards the Suna gate, she had to shield her eyes from the sun. In the distance she saw someone approach from the natural rock barrier, slender and tall. A shift from the side made her regard her cousin Neji from the corner of her eye. He was there as her escort and would only be staying for a few days, but had requested to accompany her himself.

Over the years, Suna had become a more prosperous hidden village under Gaara's rule. The relationship between Suna and Konoha is currently at its all time high with Naruto Uzumaki as the current Hokage. The only down side has been that due to their location and lack of natural resources, Suna has always been heavily reliant on other nations for imports, meaning that there are things they simply lack. A good medical field is one of them. It is not that the medical ninja for Suna are incompetent or lack knowledge, simply that the available herbs and books have been limited for quite some time. A promise made by Tsunade to exchange medical information had been thwarted by Pein's attack on Konoha, followed by Madara's plans.

During the war it had been simply too difficult to try and send anyone from Konoha to Suna to deal with medical exchanges. Pein's attack had led to the destruction of numerous medical documents that had been too difficult if not almost impossible to recover. The years it had taken to rebuild their old database had been long and arduous indeed. Even now, years after the war and with Naruto a year in as Hokage, the wealth of knowledge that Konoha held concerning medicine was only at an estimated seventy five percent. For Suna, however, it was enough and the promise Tsunade gave to Suna was upheld.

It had taken a few months to get everything ready. An 'ambassador' would be sent and would stay in Suna for six months to set up a proper program. The ambassador would keep the Kazekage informed of anything and everything that Konoha wanted to introduce and inform him of any ideas or future plans, if any. Any new herbs or products would be screened through his medical team first and reports would be given to Gaara personally. This project was important for the future health of the village, meaning the Kazekage desired to be personally involved in any way possible.

Hinata had volunteered for this mission. As a jounin medical ninja, she had the knowledge and experience to lead the expedition and set up a proper program. As a Hyuuga, her ambassador status was a way for her to do something good for her family now that they were under…different rules. At the moment, the clan was in a state of unrest. Many clan members did not want or enjoy change and eliminating the branch house definitely constituted as a 'really big change'. The closer Hinata grew to potentially becoming the new leader, the more unsettled the council elders became. Hiashi had abolished the houses, but that didn't mean the entire clan felt it would stay that way. The push to place Hanabi as leader instead of Hinata had become fierce over the years, for it was well known that Hinata had no intentions of reestablishing the houses. Hanabi was deemed as being 'easier to mold', due to her young age as far as rumors went and the entire situation had placed Hinata under quite a bit of stress. Gentle prodding from Neji to take the mission and leave the Hyuuga for a while had never been more welcome.

And so here she was, walking through the hot desert at noontime, the sun at its peak and blinding her. Even though she felt as if she were dying with her jacket and baggy pants on, she was also grateful for its protection as she felt the sun's rays trying to seep in and burn her sensitive skin. Hyuuga were normally pale for a reason.

"Hey there!" came the voice of the Suna escort as they drew near. Hinata still could not properly see them due to the glaring light of the sun, but when Neji visibly relaxed beside her, she offered up her best smile and ventured forward.

"Hello," she began "We apologize for being half a day late…"

"Don't worry about it." The voice is definitely female and as she nears, Hinata's expression brightens. It is Temari, Gaara's older sister and ambassador for Suna. The tall blonde is wearing a plain dark purple kimono, her fan strapped to her back as always. Pale green eyes, sharp as a kunai, take the two Hyuuga's in with a pleased expression. She waves off Hinata's apology. "You're just lucky you came when you did. We're expecting sand storms this time of year, and Gaara says it'll probably happen within the next few days." She shrugs "The wind feels a bit off to me as well, and he's never wrong."

"Oh…" the smaller woman nods, understanding "Well then, I'm thankful. I wouldn't want to be caught up in a sand storm."

"Indeed." Neji chose this time to chime in, taking a step forward. "Forgive the intrusion. I insisted on escorting Hinata-sama, although you were told to expect only one person. I'll only be imposing for a few days, to ensure that she settles in properly. I hope you all received the message in time."

Temari turned and motioned for them to follow her as she walked towards her home "It's no problem. Let's walk and talk," when they fell into step behind her, she continued "We did get your message and Gaara is glad that you decided to stop by. He'd like to speak to you before you leave."

"I would be honored."

Not much else was said as they walked through the pass, comfortable silence filling the air. Hinata took it all in, the guards stationed in grooves of the rock face, watching a long range of the desert. The wall leading into the village was massive, at Hinata's height she had to strain her neck if she wanted to really see how high it went. It was different from Konoha's gate, as this one was more natural and not nearly as ornate. Walking through the pass was also an interesting experience, for in Konoha once you entered the gate you could see everything immediately. Once through pale eyes took in village below which was…barren in comparison to Konoha, but Hinata did not find it desolate or unpleasant. She liked how the homes were round to accommodate the desert's harsh environment. With the entire village looking as if it were part of the natural landscape, the kunoichi found it a pleasant contrast.

The Hyuuga soon learned the village was also not a highly busy one. Unlike Konoha where there were always hordes of people out and about, Suna was more quiet and reserved. If people were out, it was normally for a reason, shopping or training. As they ventured further into the streets, Hinata noticed odd shops here and there, most of them selling specialty goods or services.

She chose this time to break the silence. "Does Suna have any open markets?" she asked, still observing her surroundings. The two Hyuuga's had both agreed prior not to use the Byakugan to scout around during their stay to keep from seeming intrusive. Turning slightly, Temari gave the woman a small smirk from behind.

"You guys do all of your shopping outside, but our markets and major stores are all inside at various buildings." she explained "Our environment doesn't allow for the type of open markets you have back in Konoha. We also have to import a lot of our seafood and other meats, although we do have some inside farms and culture pools for some fish. If you want, I can show you these places after you meet with Gaara. The only catch is that he wants to meet with you guys again for dinner so we won't be able to venture out for too long."

"Oh no, that's all right," Hinata shook her head, a strained smile on her face "We don't want to impose. We'll explore the markets and shops on our own but for now I know you probably have a few things you want to take care of with us."

A shrug was all she got from Temari and then there was silence once more.

The remaining walk to the Kazekage's dome hadn't been terribly long. It was massive, similar to the Hokage's own abode and sat in the middle of the village, large and somewhat imposing. Like the other buildings it was undecorated, only the Kazekage's symbol stood out.

Inside, however, was different. Various shades of red and brown littered the halls in simple but fashionable ways. There seemed to be a wide range rooms and halls that Hinata would have to become familiar with during her stay, but for now she merely took in the basic view. Council members and other important figures rushed by them, giving the two Hyuuga's strange looks as they passed. Even without their Byakugan they could sense the presence of eyes on them, possibly other ninja. Temari led them to a wide door that also held the symbol of the Kazekage. She entered without knocking, her stance completely relaxed.

Gaara's office looked very similar to Naruto's. It was simply decorated, a potted catcus here, a picture there, nothing too fancy or out of the ordinary. The redhead sat at the desk, his back slightly bent as he examined the papers in front of him. His skin was as pale as ever, that red hair still unruly, coming down to frame a slender, more mature face. The dark rings around his eyes were permanent, outlining the coolness of his pale green eyes. He did not look up from his paperwork at first, although Hinata was sure he noticed them even before they entered the building.

"The ambassador and her escort have arrived." Temari formally announced "You wanted to see them." It was a statement. Hinata refrained from shifting uncomfortably at the familiarity. Even though Naruto was her friend she still would never speak to him so bluntly, especially around guests. Gaara didn't seem to mind, in fact, he made no initial reaction at all.

After about a minute the Kazekage's gaze slowly lifted to take in the foreigners. His eyes first settled on Neji who stared back with equal calmness. The two males took each other in, almost as if sizing the other up. A few moments passed and his attention shifted to Hinata.

She was not well acquainted with Gaara and this was one of the few times she had seen him since the chunin exams. The young woman tensed slightly at the sharp gaze, unsure of what to expect, but relaxed soon enough. Eyes that she had remembered looking so dangerous, sad, and hungry for blood were now replaced with an inner calm and kindness. Eyes that were so much like Naruto's and so completely different.

_I hope you're doing okay Naruto-kun…_

"You are not Sakura Haruno," the calm voice of the Kazekage. The blank expression on his face did not change although there was a slight hint of confusion in his voice. "We were told that she would lead the initial program. Is she unwell?"

Both Hyuuga's stiffen, causing the two sand siblings to exchange brief looks. Hinata could feel Neji's sympathetic stare as he stood beside her and she takes a deep mental breath before deciding to speak. She bowed politely.

"I am Hyuuga Hinata, one of the lead medical jounin shinobi in Konoha," she began "Sakura-san is unable to come due to…personal and medical issues that came up unexpectedly. I volunteered to take her place so she could serve the village adequately and take care of her personal needs."

A hairless eyebrow rose at that. "You mean…the issue with Sasuke Uchiha's return from the dead?"

The two Konoha shinobi blinked at the redhead. "You know…?" Neji sounded surprised.

"We received the encrypted message shortly before your arrival," Temari explained to the two "We know that Sasuke has returned to Konoha with almost no memory of who he was before he left and seemingly from the dead. We heard that he also had some serious scarring, is half blind and in medical custody until properly treated."

"We've been asked to assist in any way we can," Gaara continued "Since the moment the other villages find out, they will want to hold a war trial on Sasuke. I know Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha were…close. We have agreed to assist in the matter, but that is all we can say for now."

Hinata nodded. Yes, even she had limited knowledge as to what Naruto was going to do now that Sasuke had returned. Years after the war had ended and Sasuke had supposedly died at the hands of Naruto himself, the Uchiha returned to the place of his birth. The situation was currently causing tension between Naruto and Sakura, who were currently engaged to be married. Sakura's love for Sasuke had never truly left her, she had just moved on. It had taken a while for Naruto and Sakura to even start dating, the tensions and the past they held between them had kept the two at a distance. With Sasuke back, the gap that had been mended over time had been violently ripped open, leaving them at emotional odds with each other. The two of them were her friends and it pained her to see them obviously so unhappy.

Especially when _she_ had finally gotten over the pain of losing him. They deserved to be happy.

"Yes, so um…" she resisted the urge to fidget. Twenty three years old and she still at times had problems fidgeting and wanting to twirl her fingers. At least she had somewhat solved her stuttering problem "So I'm Sakura-san's replacement. I hope it is not too much of a disappointment. I can give you my credentials if you would like..."

"No, I trust Konoha. I'm sure you're more than capable." Gaara said softly in reassurance "I was simply surprised. We had received word that Neji Hyuuga was escorting, but not that you were replacing Haruno." Finally he stood, surprising Hinata with his shocking new height. Last time she had really seen him he had been about the same height as Naruto when the Hokage had been sixteen. Now Gaara was much taller, his shoulders wider, his frame that of a fully grown male. He wore the robes of the Kazekage at the moment, the white seeming to be a sharp contrast to the red of his hair. Slowly, he closed the distance between himself and the two Hyuuga, his eyes betraying the expressionless mask of his face. Those eyes were warm and inviting and Hinata found herself amazed by how much he had changed over the years.

"Thank you for coming," he remarked formally "I know it's been a long trip for you both, so I do not wish to take up much of your time for today." His gaze shifted to Hinata "I look forward to seeing your ideas for the program. My people have been instructed to assist you in any way possible. While you are here, you will stay here with my siblings and myself in one of the guest rooms. We can discuss the particulars later, for now, please allow Temari to escort you to your rooms so you can get settled in. If you are not too tired, I was hoping we could have our discussion over a dinner. None of the council will be present, just Temari, Kankuro, myself and the two of you. That meeting will be later this week. Is there anything you'd like to ask me?"

So different. He was so different from when she had initially 'met' him that it seemed that day in the forest had never happened. The feeling of fear had lingered with her so long as it had been the first time she had ever really seen anyone murdered. She could still remember how his eyes had looked then. The sensation of anger, sadness and loneliness had been overwhelming. Eyes that had seemed so cold and yet so familiar to her at the same time. It had taken her years and a few blissfully ignorant comments from Naruto for it to click.

Now Gaara's eyes were almost exactly like Naruto's, except there was more calm and serenity, while Naruto's eyes tended to blaze with emotion and feeling. She was sure with others it would probably be difficult to tell, but being a Hyuuga and being sensitive to observing, Gaara's eyes were as good as a facial expression for her. His kindness and warmth were infectious and Hinata found herself not only relaxing but smiling up at him.

"No, we don't want to take up too much of your time." Hinata turned to Temari "Um, whenever you are ready we will be more than happy to get settled in. I think my cousin and I will need some rest for the days to come."

With a small laugh, Temari gave them a look "Are you Hyuuga always this polite or is it just the two of you?" Came the blunt question. Temari was rewarded with a blink and a confused expression from Hinata before Neji cut in, bowing to Gaara before he turned to leave.

"Yes, we're always this polite." Came the flat answer from the male Hyuuga "_All of us_. Now then, I'd like to not waste any more of the Kazekage's time."

Hinata couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face. Obviously, Neji was tired more than he was letting on; he was being a little snappish. That had been his way of telling Temari to 'shut up and drop it'.

The blonde seemed amused by this instead of insulted. With a small wave to Gaara she turned and led the two to their rooms.

"I have absolutely no idea how they can stand so much red in their décor," Neji remarked, walking into Hinata's room. His cousin was taking a little longer to get settled in, since she held more belongings. A picture of her team and one of Hanabi, her, and himself were already resting on top of her dresser, bringing a small smile to his face. Putting a shirt in one of the drawers she rose and turned to him, her smile impish.

"It's…it's not so bad," tucking strands of dark hair behind her ear, she let out a small sigh and stretched. "Besides, we have a lot of white at home so…"

Neji shrugged and moved deeper into the room, unable to argue her point. Taking a good look at his cousin, it was easy to tell that she was tired from the trip. The dry air and the heat of the sun had made her long hair a little frizzy, her face was flushed and her eyes were slightly droopy. Both of them were dirty simply from walking, the dusty wind having coated their skin and clothes.

"Hinata-sama, you should get some rest," he made sure that his voice was soft and, hopefully, somewhat soothing. Knowing her, and he knew her well, she would shower and then would want to go and take a look at the greenhouse and introduce herself to the staff she would be teaching.

He almost smiled when she hesitated and had started to raise her hands up towards her chest, only to realize what she was about to do and drop them back to her sides with another sigh. In those few movements he knew that she had considered arguing the point, realized that she probably wouldn't win against her protective cousin, and admitted defeat. Good for her, as he had already several arguments against her lined up. When it came to her taking care of herself, Neji never lost an argument.

"Once I finish unpacking, I'll shower and take a nap," she promised before worry crossed her features "You…you will wake me up in time for the dinner, won't you Neji-niisan?"

Closing his eyes, he did give her a brief smile before regarding her again. Hinata was _very_ worried about making a good impression it seemed. "Of course I will."

This time she did begin to fidget, causing the male Hyuuga to frown slightly. "I…I was thinking of maybe wearing one of the more formal kimono but…what if it's too formal and I end up standing out?" Hinata bit her lower lip and looked up at him with such a comically sad expression that he actually had to turn his gaze from her. If he didn't stop her, she would start to babble and become even more anxious. "What if-?"

"Hinata-sama," he calmly interjected, "you will be fine and look wonderful in whatever you decide to wear. You're worrying too much over all of this. It's understandable, this project is very large and you are directly in charge of it, but Tsunade-sama and Haruno-san would not have asked you to volunteer if they doubted your capabilities."

As far as Neji was concerned, Hinata was damned good at her job. As a medical ninja she had started her training later than the Yamanaka and Haruno, but she had proved herself no less dedicated or determined. At twenty years old she had become a jounin and was assigned her own wing to manage at the hospital. Haruno was of course over her in ranking and position, but Hinata was still highly regarded as an excellent medical shinobi. After this mission, Neji was sure that Hinata would more than likely begin to slowly take over the Hyuuga, as Hiashi had hinted to him quite a few times that he was ready to pass on the mantle.

_Even after all these years she still underestimates her true strength._

"Th-thank you…" she blushed at the compliment and then turned toward her clothes. Neji decided that was his cue to leave. Hinata was horrible concerning accepting compliments or praises, so it was usually best to leave it alone.

Returning to his room, he had his own shower and decided to walk around the vicinity to get his bearings. Even without the Byakugan he was able to quickly memorize the layout of the wing they were in and the route to the Kazekage's office, which he would possibly be frequenting over the next few days. Temari had stated that Gaara had wanted to speak to him, but perhaps that would come at a later time, in another day or so.

He didn't run into anyone familiar as he explored and the only people he did bump into had seemed to be the maids or other servants. He found the kitchen – he would have to tell Hinata how to get here since she would immediately want to start trying to cook – and a common area that held two couches, two recliners, a coffee table and a television. To his disappointment, he discovered that this section did not hold a library, so he had no book he could read to pass the time.

With that he went back to his room and meditated, followed by a short nap before going to wake Hinata in enough time for her to get ready. He found her in her woolen cloud pajamas, half of her on the bed and the other half on the floor. Her long dark hair was all over the place, she definitely would need some help. With an amused sigh he woke her up and stood back as she began to sift through the closet where she placed had all of her kimonos.

Knowing if he didn't give her some advice she'd probably end up slightly panicking, he sat down on the edge of her bed and crossed his arms.

"The plain dark blue kimono should be fine, Hinata-sama."

Her wide eyes shifted to him, worry clearly etched on her face. "Do…do you think that it would…"

"Hinata-sama." When he continued to stare she eventually let out the breath she had been holding in and gave him a lopsided smile.

"I really am over thinking this, aren't I?"

"Yes," he stood up "the thing you should be worried about is your hair, since it's all tangled and will need to be brushed. You don't have to put your hair up if you don't want to, though."

From there Hinata rushed into her bathroom and emerged a bit later with her kimono on, finishing up a few loose ends. He volunteered to brush her hair to which she readily agreed, not wanting to deal with the long tresses. In all honesty, Neji actually enjoyed brushing Hinata's hair. Ever since she had let it grow out it had become silky and soft. He wasn't entirely sure why but he liked the feel of her hair sliding through his fingers. Maybe it was simply because it had become a way for them to slowly bond over the years and any bond with Hinata was important to him. _She_ was important to him, although he did not always show it.

He did actually pin her hair up, as requested, and the two of them left shortly after to the small dining room area he was sure the dinner would take place in. They ran into Temari along the way, who had been coming to retrieve them, and the two Hyuuga enjoyed a pleasant and small meal with the Kazekage and his siblings.

_I'm going to have to change my wardrobe very soon._ Hinata thought as she trekked through the village wearing her long sleeved jacket and pants. How the Kazekage walked around comfortably in a long sleeved turtleneck and heavy looking pants was beyond her level of comprehension. She was _hot_ and it was only seven in the morning.

This morning she was following Temari to the hospital, where she'd meet the staff she would be working with on the project. Mostly she was to train them in any healing methods that they didn't quite understand and discuss the full workings of how they wanted the project to go. There was a lot more to it than that, but for now she wanted to focus on making a good first impression.

There was one thing she was thankful for and that was air conditioning. All of the buildings in Suna had a beautifully run air conditioning system and the hospital was no exception. She didn't even try to hide her sigh of relief as cool air hit her and she pointedly ignored Temari's small laugh at her expense.

The hospital wasn't nearly as large or up to date on medical equipment as Hinata had hoped. One of the first things she would have to report would be to purchase new equipment. Despite the slightly cramped hallways and somewhat outdated technology, the atmosphere was bright and pleasant. The medical staff didn't seem tired or overworked, patients seemed to be well taken care of. Definitely good signs.

The medical team assigned to the project consisted of four individuals. One was a woman who looked in her thirties named Kaede, who Hinata discovered actually all but ran the hospital. The other three were males, none of them under the age of twenty. One had looked so feminine she had ended up embarrassing herself when she addressed him as 'her' and was lightly corrected with smiles on everyone's faces.

After introductions were made the group escorted her to the greenhouse where they kept all of their herbs and other medicinal plants. The stock that Konoha had sent a week prior had already arrived and was currently in its own small section, some of the seeds already planted in pots and being tended to. Hinata was given a full inventory of what Suna currently held, similar to the one that she had read in the mission report, and was shown the library where all of the medical books were held. Hinata's shipment of books would arrive within another week or so, to which the Suna personnel were welcome to copy from and create their own books. Unfortunately the books that Konoha held did not have any extra in print so it had been expressed that she would have to send them back as soon as possible. The more important medical books, especially the ones created by the Nara, would remain in Konoha. Hinata informed them that Suna was more than welcome to send a small team once the project was fully established to acquire that information.

When Hinata returned she found that Neji was in a meeting with the Kazekage, so she went to her room to begin to make plans for her upcoming lessons and to write her first report. From what she understood of it, Gaara wanted the reports delivered to him by her personally, so they could discuss anything he didn't understand or had questions about. It all hit her then, that she really was here in Suna, that she really was going to be teaching people who probably held more years of experience and skill than she, and that she really was going to be the person even the Kazekage would depend on for the success of this project.

With a deep breath and a slightly shaky hand, she sat down at her desk and began to write her first report.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

His first meeting with the medical ninja from Konoha ended with him actually having to cancel, which he was not pleased about. There was nothing he could do about it, the work that had ended up being piled on his desk somehow all ended up being 'extremely important' and 'needs feedback ASAP'. In addition, the council for some strange reason decided that today would also be the day in which they wanted to have a meeting about the recent trade agreements. Gaara wasn't entirely sure _why_ that particular meeting had to be held _today_ but he made it a habit to not go out of his way to question the council unless it was direly important. By the time he had finished with the meeting and ensured that all 'important documents' were filled and sent to their respective correspondents, it was almost midnight.

He had informed his aide to cancel the meeting when he realized that it was already going on seven and he was nowhere near finished. In fact, all other reports for that day ended up being cancelled until tomorrow. Now he was staring at missions and shinobi charts so that he could determine what ranking to give what mission and who he was going to send. Normally this would also include several high ranking jounin, including Baki, but since Gaara probably wasn't going to get any sleep anyway he decided to get a head start on it. Besides, who knew what would be waiting for him in the morning?

Even though he no longer possessed the Shukaku – or rather, Shukaku possessing him – Gaara discovered that he rarely needed sleep and so he had never truly broken out of his insomnia. His 'sleep' consisted of cat naps from time to time and never lasted for more than three hours. In his opinion it was a great thing, he could get more work done if he was awake more hours of the day. His siblings and Baki did _not_ share this opinion and often called him a 'work-a-holic'. He was often pressured to try and rest more, or if not that, to at least _leave_ the office a bit more than usual.

The Kazekage often wondered how Naruto was faring with paperwork as the Hokage, only to smile at the realization that he probably ditched his work as often as Tsunade had. That woman had been notorious for ditching work to go gambling or drinking, even _he_ had known about it. Naruto was probably not much better; the blonde couldn't sit still for longer than a minute without squirming.

Naruto. Konoha was in a difficult position at the moment, with the Uchiha's return. Naruto had yet to send him any personal messages but Gaara could only imagine how his friend was feeling. It was times like this where he did wish he had more freedom, he would go visit his friend and if nothing else simply be there for him. It seemed that Naruto was always there for Gaara yet he could never be there for him. It wasn't a pleasing thought.

_I should take a break._

The thought came to him so suddenly that he ended up blinking at the document in his hands as if it had made the suggestion. Setting the paper back on his desk he leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. He hadn't slept or taken any cat naps in the past three days; if his mind was suggesting he take a break then it meant he had reached his limit.

His stomach decided at that moment to announce its discomfort at not being fed in the past few hours. That sealed his decision to take a small break, to grab a small snack if nothing else. Stretching his limbs out first, he then proceeded to head to the small kitchen in the residential wing.

Of course, no one was there at this hour, although his eyes immediately spotted something sitting over on the counter. Curious as to what the out-of-place item was, he was surprised when he realized that it was a wrapped dinner with his name on it. The handwriting was unfamiliar and with reason, as he spotted the female Hyuuga's name at the bottom.

_I didn't know she could cook._

He warmed up the meal, which he determined to be curry, sat down at the table and ate.

"This…is good."

--

Neji ended up leaving in the morning although Hinata could tell that he hadn't been entirely been all that pleased about it. Her cousin worried about her through his actions and he had displayed his discomfort at not being able to be around longer for her. He ended up fussing over her in his own way until he was somewhat satisfied that she would be fine and he had nothing to worry about.

"…and _don't_ allow Kankuro turn you into his personal maid," he warned her, to which Hinata answered with a smile. The second night Hinata had been there she had asked to cook lunch and dinner. After that Kankuro insisted that she cook for them until she left with Temari nodding her head in a sage-like manner. "You're a guest and an ambassador, not his personal chef."

Hinata had to resist the urge to giggle; knowing if she did Neji would grant her with a frown. Instead she held her reassuring smile. "I promise I won't let Kankuro-san turn me into his personal chef," she said lightly "and I also promise I will write you every week so that you know how I am doing."

Knowing that he couldn't really get anything more out of her than that, he told her one more time to be careful and headed back to Konoha. Shortly thereafter Hinata went to work on lunch – she really did enjoy cooking – before heading out to the hospital.

The past two days had consisted of Hinata going to the hospital, giving lessons to the team, going over and acquiring feedback on how they wanted the project to go and then finally stopping by the greenhouse.

The greenhouse was Hinata's favorite spot in the entire village because it reminded her of her mother's back in Konoha. When her mother had passed away Hinata had decided to take over up keeping it. It hadn't been easy, she had held no real experience prior and the branch members that helped maintain it had been curiously absent whenever she had stopped by. Using her mother's books and notes she had ended up learning everything on her own. It was only well after she had gotten the hang of it that the maintainers bothered to start coming in and giving her advice. Gardening was something she truly enjoyed doing besides pressing flowers as plants were wonderful company. Before Kiba and Shino the plants had been her friends. At the time, she had felt that plants would always listen and never see her as a disappointment or become angry with her for voicing her opinions. If she took good care of them they were happy and healthy. Back then, it had been a small but welcome comfort.

Last night she had made curry and left some for the Kazekage when she learned that he tended to rarely come in and eat due to work. He had cancelled his meeting with her as well, which had made Hinata worried. Both Temari and Kankuro had complained that their baby brother worked much too hard and didn't always take proper care of himself during their dinner, reminding her of Neji and herself. Even though Neji worked just as hard as she did he always insisted that she worked too many hours at the hospital and worried too much over others and never over herself. After listening to the siblings she decided to make sure their brother would have a meal waiting for him should he decide to enter the kitchen. When she showed up to make lunch the next day, she had been pleased to see the empty plate in the sink. Hopefully, he had liked it, even though it hadn't been much.

Tonight she was to give her report to the Kazekage and according to his aide he had made sure that it was known the meeting was to hold priority over any other non-essential issues. That really encouraged her, knowing that the Kazekage was very serious about being involved in his own way.

Not that she wasn't nervous. In fact, the reason she was still sitting in the greenhouse staring at the recently planted seeds as if willing them to grow was because of nerves. It wasn't that she was afraid of him or anything, it was just…well…he was a K_age_. Being in front of highly important people always made her feel as if there were being weighed and judged; this was no exception.

_I hope he finds my report sufficient enough…_

When she could stall no more, Hinata gathered her reports and forced her feet to move towards the Kazekage's office. It was a herculean effort, her feet and legs really did not desire to cooperate with her today. The stares she received from Suna shinobi as she walked jerkily towards her meeting didn't help at all.

_You're twenty three years old and a jounin now, you shouldn't be this nervous!_

Hinata had to hold in her outcry when she lifted her hand to knock on his door and Gaara's aide yanked it open and almost ran her over. He did cry out, however, and fell flat on his face when the kunoichi had skillfully moved out of the way. Papers flew everywhere.

The Hyuuga was mortified "Oh…oh…are you alright?" She stammered out, her eyes wide with shock and worry.

The aide, who really held no memorable features besides a small scar on his chin, quickly jumped up, bowing and apologizing profusely. A minute and a highly uncomfortable Hyuuga later he finally remembered his papers. She helped him – to which he had loudly protested against – and with a few more bows and apologies he scurried off to wherever it was he was going.

If Hinata hadn't been nervous before she was definitely nervous now. She all but slid into the room, closing the door softly behind her. To her surprise, Gaara was looking at his paperwork as if the exchange right outside his door had never happened. It wasn't until Hinata was almost in the middle of the room that he looked up and noticed her.

"Hyuuga-san," he greeted, sitting up straight and giving her his full attention. "I apologize for yesterday, I usually do not cancel meetings if I can help it."

His apology threw her off guard and instead of feeling nervous, she switched to wanting to reassure him that she had not been offended "No…it's fine, I understand that you are very busy and I did get started a few days ahead of schedule." She gave him a respectful bow.

"…Oh, I remember now…" his gaze turned distant for a moment "Temari had informed me that initially you were to start after your escort departed." His expression shifted into a thoughtful frown.

_Well, I suppose if one doesn't sleep often they lose track of time…_

"Ah, well…in any case, I have the reports you requested so…"

With a blink his expression shifted to his normal blank stare as he motioned for her to sit. "You are a guest." He explained when she hesitated.

Unused to giving reports in such a manner – usually the shinobi quickly delivers their report and then is excused – she found herself sitting a little stiffly in the otherwise comfortable chair after handing him the paper copies.

She resisted the urge to fidget as he looked over the documents. Hinata tried looking at him to see if she could determine what he was thinking or feeling but his face remained perfectly neutral.

"What sort of medical upgrades are you suggesting?" His voice cut into the silence although he still wasn't looking at her.

_Focus. Breathe._ "Well, I haven't been able to get a full look around the hospital but I noticed that many of the machines you carry are a bit outdated. Um, on the back of the report there's a list of the items I noticed and what the upgrade could be. I'm not aware of the prices, so I tried to give a rough estimate based on when we had ordered some prior."

"…Does this need to be implemented immediately or…"

"Oh! No, it's not direly important," she hastened to cut in "and it doesn't have to be immediately. Um, whatever the budget could afford, I suppose, to slowly bring in new equipment. Not having the equipment isn't really detrimental to the patient's health as much as it helps the staff treat the patients faster and with higher efficiency. As for the more advanced machinery, I would have to have access to those types of places."

Gaara did look up at her then, causing her to sit up a bit straighter. "I will inform Kaede tomorrow to allow you to explore any areas you feel are important. Currently, the budget we have would not allow me to make a massive order of these items, or to order a machine of considerable cost. We do not have four seasons, but other villages do and I believe it is nearing winter. This time of year is when trade becomes poor and we have to decrease our spending. I will ensure that the moment we are able to increase the hospital's budget accordingly."

"I…th-thank you Kazekage-sama." In all honesty, she hadn't expected him to agree so easily. The updated equipment really wasn't a necessity, the hospital and patients _could_ get by without it. She was also surprised at the amount of trust he was bestowing in her by allowing her to explore any area of the hospital that she wanted. They were allies yes but she was still a foreigner and shinobi villages were very finicky about who they allowed to see what.

Hinata continued with the rest of her report, going into a bit more detail about the lessons she had already given and the status of the plants currently residing in the greenhouse.

"There are other medicinal ingredients that do not derive from plants that we would like to share with you, but it would have to be under trade. For example, the Nara clan in our village is famous for their ability to use deer antlers for medicinal purposes. Unfortunately that sort of supply would be highly limited…"

Gaara nodded "I understand. If that is the case then it would be best to discuss those sorts of items much further along in the project," when she nodded he continued "I noticed that the amount of plants that were brought here do not match with the number of plants prospected."

"Ah. That's because they're out of season and so we have a limited supply on reserve. When they come back in season we will be shipping those here. It was a mistake on our part, most of those plants we don't grow in the greenhouses because they're so frequently found in the wild."

"I see. Has the staff begun to make copies of the medical books you brought?"

"Yes. As Tsunade-sama explained we had to restore many of our books from scratch after the initial destruction of the village so many of the books I have need to be returned as soon as possible."

The Kazekage only had a few more questions after that, mostly concerning whether or not she was settling in properly and if she needed anything beyond what she already had. Hinata was amazed at how well the meeting was going, she didn't even feel nervous anymore. She wasn't exactly sure what it was, but for some reason being around Gaara was not as frightening as she had initially thought. Perhaps it was because he was soft spoken, or maybe it was because he seemed so calm and unruffled. In a lot of ways, it reminded her of Neji, except Neji held more facial expressions.

With the meeting pretty much finished Hinata excused herself and began to take her leave.

"Hyuuga-san."

Turning back to Gaara, she gave him a curious look. He didn't say anything for a long moment and for a second she felt a little embarrassed for possibly thinking that she had misheard him.

"I wanted to…thank you for the dinner. Your cooking is very good."

Heat crawled up and her face began to turn red from the compliment "Th-tha…I mean, Temari-san and Kankuro-san told me that you don't always eat so I thought…"

He smiled then, effectively silencing her. It wasn't a bright smile or even a wide smile, simply the slight upturning on the corners of his mouth. If her eyesight hadn't been as good as it was she probably wouldn't have noticed it. It seemed to completely transform his looks, making him appear almost boyish, not at all like a super-imposing Kage.

"I suppose then that I will need to try and come to dinner more often. A home cooked meal is best when it is still hot. In any case, please do not worry on my account, I will be fine."

"That's what I tell Neji-niisan when he tells me I work too hard and I don't take proper care of myself," she blurted out and immediately regretted it. Gaara's eyes widened slightly and she slapped a hand over her mouth in shock. Where had _that_ come from? "I-I…I didn't mean…"

The Kazekage seemed to recover quickly from her small outburst. His face remained neutral but his eyes seemed brighter, almost as if he were amused. "It seems we both have family members who make sure they look out for us."

If Hinata had taken the time to watch his expression she would have seen the small smile reemerge on his face as she spluttered, quickly bowed and left.

--

Two weeks passed with the Hyuuga under his roof. The daily reports were pleasant enough, the woman was thorough and held no qualms about offering her suggestions from time to time. Kaede's reports supported the Hyuuga's, filled with praise and support from his team. They were now beginning to seriously involve themselves with the growth of the various plants that had been brought from Konoha and going over the ones that would arrive in a few months time. The lessons were apparently going very well, the reports stating that the Hyuuga was a patient and determined instructor, mild-mannered and kind.

His experiences with her outside of work had been a surprise to him. With the way he worked, he had expected to only see the brunette during meetings and perhaps briefly in the halls. When word got out that Gaara had praised her cooking, his siblings had not-so-gently urged him to actually start having dinners with them. He knew that they were worried about him and working too hard, if attending dinners would placate them a little it would be selfish to keep making excuses.

Neither Temari or Kankuro could cook. Temari somehow would burn everything to a crisp and Kankuro was convinced that cooking was a woman's job. Before the Hyuuga's arrival, 'dinners' had consisted of whatever instant meal they could pop into a microwave. The Kazekage couldn't deny that sitting at the table with his siblings eating a real meal was nice.

He didn't speak much, but speaking was rarely expected of him. He was content to observe and give noncommittal grunts or nods here and there. One of the things he immediately noticed was that the Hyuuga also remained very quiet. She seemed pleased enough, she always had a gentle smile on her face and her pale eyes seemed warm instead of blank and depthless. She spoke when spoken to and laughed when appropriate.

She attended one meeting with the council to explain her presence and purpose for the project. He found himself seeing a different side to her, a polite but firm presence when faced with the numerous questions the council had. Some of the questions had been borderline insulting and yet the Hyuuga had merely smiled. By the end of that meeting she practically had the council eating from her palm and asking for seconds without ever raising her voice or making a single threat. Considering how nervous and jumpy she normally seemed to be, he had definitely been surprised.

In short, he found her to be a rather…fascinating woman for lack of a better term.

Gaara wasn't entirely sure how to deal with this; he had met plenty of women before in his life and he had never felt anything beyond the affection he held for most of his people. Matsuri was an exception, she had been a student of his and so he would always want to specifically see how she was improving and her growth potential. Wanting to know more personal details about someone had always been classified as 'none of his business' unless directly approached.

His 'fascination' with her only brought him mild confusion because it was very separate from other feelings he had held for people. Being a new sensation had forced him to self reflect in an attempt to put feelings to words. 'Fascinating' was his current term for it, although he knew that wasn't quite right. He knew that he was starting to look forward to their meetings. He understood that he was making a real conscious effort to be to dinner on time knowing that she would be there. If she wasn't – which wasn't often – he felt slightly disappointed. If her name came up in conversation he found himself more alert towards the conversation than before.

When she giggled – she rarely laughed out loud – he felt himself wanting to smile. When she looked worried he wanted to calm her. When she looked thoughtful he found himself wondering what she was thinking about. It wasn't even something he had realized over time, it hit him one night during dinner when Kankuro had said a rather lewd joke and everyone at the table – excluding him – had laughed. He remembered looking at her and then he had just known. That had only been a day or so ago.

He had yet to approach his siblings about this small sensation, mostly because he didn't want them to either get the wrong idea or get their hopes up. Whenever it seemed like he was making some 'great change' for the better his siblings became almost overly supportive and finding someone 'fascinating' was not something he wanted them to overreact on.

Unfortunately, his siblings seemed to notice him a bit more than he believed. Around midnight Gaara had decided to see if there were any leftovers from dinner to snack on. Kankuro was in the kitchen when he arrived. This wasn't abnormal, sometimes his brother would come home late from whatever he did out at night and would steal a quick bite before heading to bed.

There were leftovers, but Kankuro was currently helping himself, so Gaara ended up deciding to go with fruit instead. As he reached for an apple, Kankuro struck.

"So, what do you think of that Hyuuga girl?" he asked, "Pret-ty nice rack if you ask me."

Gaara hesitated and he realized right then that he was about to be asked at least twenty questions. Since he rarely expressed himself physically or verbally, any small sign out of order was considered the same as him shouting it from the rooftops.

"I don't make it a habit of looking at women's chests," he remarked blandly, although that wasn't entirely true. Gaara wasn't exactly a person who expressed himself well but it didn't mean he was emotionally or hormonally stunted. Yes, among other things he had indeed noticed the Hyuuga had a very…appealing figure. He simply didn't allow himself to dwell on it. When it came to self-control he was a master. "Although I think that she is a very capable kunoichi."

His brother almost dropped the plate of food he was holding and inwardly the red head sighed. He really shouldn't have reacted to her name. Kankuro recovered as gracefully as possible for him and was immediately on his younger brother, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"I've seen that," he remarked with a grin "and you know, Temari and I have noticed you staring at her in the past few days during dinner."

Gaara couldn't hide his surprise to that; had he really been staring? There were times when she would giggle or smile and he would look over at her, had he lingered too long? He honestly didn't know.

Kankuro took his surprise as confirmation, his face lighting up. The older brother grabbed both of Gaara's arms, unpainted face wide with shock and a little hope "Holy shit, really man? I mean, we thought it was a little weird that you were showing up _every_ night but I mean, that girl's cooking is amazing so…but you're seriously attracted to her?"

"…Attracted?" He repeated, his brows furrowing in thought.

"Yeah like, you like her." When Kankuro realized that this wasn't exactly a good explanation for someone who didn't quite understand how more intimate relationships worked he tried to elaborate "Okay it's like this, you look at a girl and you find her to be pretty. You find yourself wanting to get to know her a little better, maybe even do something with just the two of you, stuff like that. Do you get what I mean?"

Was that what this new feeling was? Attraction? It seemed to make sense, he didn't feel this way around other females. "I'm not sure," he admitted "it's as if I woke up one day, saw her and I could no longer perceive her the same as I did the day before." Gaara then told him about his current conflicting feelings, since it was already out in the open. When he finished his brother was grinning from ear to ear.

"Man, Temari totally owes me ten bucks now…" at Gaara's quizzical look Kankuro waved it off. "It's nothing, forget I said that. But as for you bro, it sounds like you've got yourself a little crush."

"Is that when you find yourself wanting a more intimate relationship with someone?" Gaara asked "Similar to the girls you talk about?"

"Noooo, that's _totally_ different. Uh, don't use me for comparison, I'm kind of a bad influence." A short chuckle "In your case it's like this girl is a special in comparison to other girls. Since you know that it's beyond a friendship level that's good, but you should definitely try and shoot for getting to know her and trying to be her friend. If you want to know more about her, ask her to do something with you that isn't work related."

"…Isn't that a date?"

"Ah…well kind of," Kankuro shrugged "like, there's friendly dates where it's just between friends and then there's _date_ dates where you're looking to pursue something deeper. You _really _need to take baby steps on this one, girls are complicated and…" he trailed off, more than likely to try and attempt to say something that wouldn't hurt his little brother.

"And I've never had any experience with this sort of thing," he finished. Kankuro balked but eventually nodded, giving him a lopsided grin.

"Yeah. That. If it's just something in passing you don't want to jump ahead and end up hurting her feelings. That'd just suck for everyone. For you, it'd be best to get to know her and see how deep this really goes. It could be a crush but you could also just really like her company. Who knows?"

"I will…I will think on your words. I think you might be right about it possibly being an attraction but I'm not sure. I'll wait a few days before I make any decisions."

Both brothers finished with their meals Kankuro dropped his dish in the sink and Gaara threw his apple core away. When Gaara moved to leave the puppet master grabbed his arm.

"Hey Gaara?" Kankuro's expression was so serious the redhead turned to give his brother his full attention "Be careful. You've been through a lot and stuff like this…it can really hurt. Make sure you talk to me or Temari before you do anything drastic okay?"

He smiled slightly "I will."


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I keep forgetting to mark when the POV changes. When I write this on Word I put enough spaces between the shifts that it seems fine to me, until I see it uploaded on and it looks like a Charlie Foxtrot(If you don't know, don't ask). More at the bottom.

Chapter Three

_Five more months to go._

Not much word had come back from Konoha regarding the on goings of her friends. Neji's letters were usually short and to the point but always about family matters. She had written Kiba and Shino and had yet to hear from them, meaning that they were both probably on mission. Hanabi's letters were also short but filled with questions on when she was coming back home and that she missed her big sister.

Hinata actually loved reading Hanabi's letters the most. The two of them hadn't been very close in the beginning due to the family forcing them to practically compete with each other for heir. Recent years had changed all of that, although it was more of a feeling than them physically growing closer. Of knowing that they could finally embrace that sisterly bond denied to them for all these years.

She couldn't help but be worried about Naruto. He had only written her one letter to let her know that he was getting her reports, that she was doing an awesome job and everything was 'A-ok' back home. A typical Naruto letter but she knew that everything was _not_ 'A-ok', not with the Uchiha back.

_Please let Naruto-kun and Sakura-san's relationship stay strong. They both deserve to be happy._

As for her mission, she couldn't complain. The winter season would be over in two months which would hopefully mean that the hospital would soon get some more new equipment. She had thanked the Kazekage profusely for somehow squeezing enough money to buy some of the more essential equipment when the budget was so tight. Kaede and the others were wonderful to work with; even though she taught lessons about Konoha's medical techniques there were quite a few things that she was learning from them simply because they held more years of experience on her. The plants in the greenhouse were beginning to grow and the reports to the Kazekage were going well.

Hinata had to admit that she was truly enjoying the small amount of time she spent around the Kazekage. Outside of the meetings he was a pleasant addition during dinner time, even if he rarely said anything. There would be times when Kankuro or Temari would say something off the wall or they'd begin to argue and she would share a look with Gaara that was clearly in agreement that his siblings were hopeless at times. She really liked the fact that after everything he'd been through he still found himself able to enjoy life and be happy. The Kazekage and the current Hokage had both led similar lives; she felt they both deserved true happiness and love.

Today she had given her report and finished dinner early. Once a week she did this so that she could spend the remainder of her time at the greenhouse. While she did do her paperwork and reports there, she also found it to be something of a little sanctuary. At the greenhouse she didn't worry as often or feel as homesick. The smell of the plants and the quiet were soothing to her and she was truly able to relax. Sometimes she would return to her room at around three or four in the morning, most of the time she slept on the cot in the back room. As long as she was there to cook breakfast no one seemed to mind. A wry smile graced her lips at that, for if Neji knew that she was now cooking the Suna siblings breakfast, lunch, and dinner he'd throw a fit. Hinata realized that she was spoiling her hosts but she truly didn't mind it. They _loved_ her cooking and that made her feel needed and welcome. Over the past month she had grown closer to Temari and Kankuro, smiling at Temari's blunt nature and trying not to get overly worked up with Kankuro's obvious flirting and jokes. She had been called many things in her life; 'hot mama' and 'sweetcakes' were not on that list.

She had been giggling over one of Kankuro's jokes that day when a soft knock came from the greenhouse door. Hinata set down the watering can she had been using on some of the plants and trekked to the door, confused. No one knocked when they came to the greenhouse, they simply entered.

Unless 'they' were the Kazekage.

The Hyuuga's initial reaction was to splutter incoherently before telling him to come in. His face was impassive as always, that cool green gaze of his taking in everything. He didn't look at her, instead he gave her a small nod of acknowledgement and began to walk around. Every now and then he'd bend over and poke at a plant or sniff if there were any bulbs or flowers. Hinata followed behind, anxious. Was he coming to do an inspection? She had been here for over a month and he had yet to visit this place that she knew of. Some of the cacti he paid particular attention to before going to the small section that was dedicated to the 'Konoha plants'.

The entire time he walked around he said absolutely nothing, not even a 'hmm' or an 'hn'. By the time he did address her she had to refrain from shouting her response out at him in surprise.

"Do all plants take this long to fully grow?" He had asked.

"Y…yes!" Upon realizing that she had sounded way too loud she ducked her head, unsuccessfully fighting the hard blush staining her cheeks. "I…I mean yes. Um, they're seedlings now but if you keep checking back you'll be able to see their progression."

She felt his eyes on her then but she was unable to look up at him. After a moment he turned and walked back over toward the cacti. Curious, Hinata joined him. If she remembered correctly, his office plants were cacti.

"I enjoy cultivating them," he said as if reading her mind "I wasn't aware some of them held medicinal properties."

For some reason, that small admission made her feel a little warm. They rarely spoke outside of work and if there were any personal questions, it was normally him asking how she was faring in his country or if she needed anything. A part of her had wanted to try and get to know him as she had his siblings, for they spoke of him often and always with love and adoration. She found herself finally relaxing.

"Yes, just a few though, unfortunately," a small pause "it's interesting that you like cacti, I enjoy pressing flowers." A small giggle "It seems we both like plants."

His gaze drifted to hers and he nodded slowly before turning back. "Why do you like pressing flowers?"

"Hm?" the question was something no one had ever asked her before. Kiba had once commented that it was 'kinda weird' and Shino had said he thought it was a very respectable hobby. Kurenai had smiled and asked the young Hinata to show her the collection one day. None of them had ever asked her why. "Um, well…my mother pressed flowers and she loved gardening. When she passed away I was very young. I remember my father telling me that she was watching me from heaven, so I tried to become good at the things we had liked together so she could look and maybe smile." Her expression turned nostalgic "I don't remember much of my mother now except for her voice and her smile.

"Your mother must have been beautiful." He had said it so quietly that Hinata almost didn't catch it. She couldn't see his face because his back was turned but there had been something about his voice…

"I…well…my father tells me that I look a lot like her."

"Hn."

The silence that followed was a bit uncomfortable and tense. Hinata had _almost_ asked him about his mother but every instinct in her told her that it would be a very bad idea. There was something about the way he had spoken and the way his shoulders had straightened slightly that spoke volumes. She knew Gaara's history concerning Shukaku, knowing that his mother had died because of it.

_Something like that…I wonder if he blames himself for his mother's death…_

It wasn't her place to ask such a personal question, so she remained silent. He stood eventually and finished his walk around the greenhouse. Slowly the tension in the air began to lift as time passed and Hinata allowed herself to relax once more. He turned to her, his expression blank but his eyes shifted twice before finally settling on her. Odd, was he nervous about something?

"Thank you for allowing me to walk around and look at the plants."

Her eyes widened "Kazekage-sama this is _your_ greenhouse. You can come here anytime you wish."

"I've learned in my years of being a Kage that just because you can go anywhere you like doesn't mean you should, especially if it interrupts natural work flow. Early on, when I wanted to learn everything I could, I ended up causing problems for the managers. They never complained, but it became very obvious. Since then I've made it a point to announce when I wish to go to a specific location so that I don't disrupt anything important. I've also learned that it is uplifting when you thank others for going out of their way for you."

Hinata found herself smiling. There was something innocent about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on. It was very endearing and almost…cute. "Well, all the same, you're welcome here anytime."

He returned her smile with a small one of his own. "I am actually here for another reason, Hyuuga-san."

Once again there was a small shift, like a lack of focus on her. As a Hyuuga and as a prior tracking shinobi, she had learned to read small expressions in people and pick up on even the smallest clues. She wasn't as good as Neji, but she _was_ good. Nothing in his face betrayed it, but he was definitely nervous about something.

Had something happened? "Another reason? Is everything alright Kazekage-sama?"

"Yes." A pause "Temari has been asking me to take a personal day for a long time now. I was wondering if on that day you would like to join me."

Now she wished he wasn't looking at her, because she had absolutely no idea how to react to _that_. She blinked up at him, her mind going blank for a moment. Was he…?

"Um, for the whole day?" She asked dumbly, her mind not exactly processing this situation in full.

Now he actually _looked_ nervous. His brows furrowed and he turned his head away from her to look at the far wall "No. Just for lunch, or dinner if you prefer. Or whatever you'd like, I haven't walked around the village in a long while."

"…Um, why?"

Another horrible question that emerged simply because her brain was working on auto. This man was the Kazekage, why in the world would he want to spend one of his few personal days with her?

When she asked he looked at her again, this time his expression matching hers in confusion "Why…?" he repeated, his expression clearly showing that he didn't understand why she had asked him that.

"I-I mean…you're the Kazekage. Wouldn't you want to spend your free time with someone else? I'm just…"

"I spend enough time with my siblings and I already know everything about them. I-" he paused, as if thinking of how to properly word himself "I would rather get to know you."

She took a minute to let that fully process. Her face began to burn red "You mean like a d-date?"

"No," he was quick to answer "Just as friends. In order to be friends with someone you should spend time with them and get to know them, correct?"

Oh. That made sense but for some reason she felt mixed. A part of her was very happy, this was what she had been wanting ever since she had become friends with Temari and Kankuro. The other part of her was a little disappointed that it wasn't a date, and that was the part that left her a bit confused.

"I, um, I'd really like that. Wh-when were you g-going to take your personal day?" _Stop stuttering!_ _You stopped doing that three years ago!_

"This weekend, if you are free. Temari has promised to take over so I can have the entire day to myself."

"Oh, I see. When was the last time you took a personal day…if it's not too rude to ask."

The blank look on his face told her volumes. With a small sigh she shook her head, smiling "No wonder Temari-san has been asking you for so long. Even I take breaks Kazekage-sama."

"I enjoy working," he said and Hinata could tell it was an argument he'd made many times before "I haven't really had a reason to take an entire day off."

_And he wants to spend his time with you_. She couldn't help feeling a little flattered; he didn't seem to be the sort of person who did things lightly. "Well I…I'm honored you would want to share your day with me. I also would really like for us to become friends."

"Do you mean that, Hyuuga-san?" she nodded "Then please call me by my name and not my title."

"I…" if possible, her blush deepened. "O-only if you call me by my first name then."

"Agreed."

---

The first mistake he made was telling Temari first. He really hadn't been thinking about it at the time, she had simply been the first sibling he had come across that morning. Remembering his promise to Kankuro he told his sister about what ended up happening in the greenhouse.

"You're going on a date with Hinata?" Temari asked, much too loud for comfort. The walls had ears and he did not want unnecessary rumors going around concerning himself and his new friend. Even if a small part of him wanted them to be true.

"It is not a date," he lightly corrected, picking up an apple to keep himself from making any motions to give away his inner feelings. "I asked her as a friend. I don't know much about her and Kankuro suggested this would be a good way to change that."

Of course, it had taken him a few _weeks_ instead of a few days to reach a decision, but those weeks had been necessary for trying to sort out this new and conflicting feeling in his chest.

The look on his sister's face was of obvious disbelief. "As friends. So, are you going to take her some place nice for lunch?"

"We agreed to meet later in the afternoon, so we decided to have dinner together."

"Just the two of you?"

"…Yes."

"Little brother, that sounds like a date to me," she pointedly ignored the look he gave her "Gaara, in all of the years we've been related I have never once seen you even_ look_ at another female sideways, much less want to spend time with one. You like this girl."

"What do you mean by look at a female sideways?"

"It's an expression," his sister glared at him "And don't try to dodge me, Kankuro can't do it so you know for damn sure you're not getting away with it."

"It depends on your definition of 'like'. From what Kankuro has told me, there's varying degrees."

Gaara didn't try to mess with his siblings often, but he wasn't really ready to admit to anything just yet. Besides, secretly the redhead agreed with his older brother that sometimes it was just fun to tease the big sister.

Temari was not amused. She crossed her arms in a rather interesting imitation of him, although she had to look up at him now. "So you're in _that_ sort of mood? Fine then, I won't pry for now. If I catch you making out with her and you haven't told me jack squat though, I'm going to kick your ass."

Just like Kankuro's comment about Hinata's 'rack', Temari's comment was not something he really needed a mental image of.

"I promise I will inform you if I decide to…make out with her." Just uttering that sentence sounded wrong to him.

Scratch that. His first mistake had been making that promise to Kankuro, not in telling Temari. He had forgotten how uncomfortable those two could make a person feel when it came to personal matters.

After that uncomfortable exchange Gaara decided to avoid all further contact by diving head first into his ever growing stacks of paperwork. The unfortunate thing about paperwork was that eventually you became so used to it that you could accurately deal with what you had in your hands and your mind drift off in different directions. First Hinata and now Temari had misunderstood his intentions. Was it just a female thing to assume that if a male wanted to spend time with her that it was automatically a romantic date? There were such things as male and female friendships right?

He dwelled on that and his feelings a bit more until the time for the reports to come in. Hinata's was last since she was usually spending her time at the greenhouse until the last minute. Their meeting was also the shortest, Gaara feeling so out of sorts that he didn't even ask her any questions. When she left she had a concerned look to her which did not help him with his conflicting emotions.

Not wanting to deal with any potential confrontations he also skipped out on dinner, the first time since he had first decided to join them. He knew that doing this would only make things worse, his siblings would become relentless, but he didn't like feeling as if he wasn't in complete control over his emotions. Gaara's life had been built on self-control and self-restraint with the understanding of if he did not people would die by his hands. Even after Shukaku was removed he continued to practice these principles and had felt as if he had completely perfected it. He showed emotion only when he desired, he kept himself under perfect control. This new feeling was changing that and it was highly uncomfortable yet at the same time exhilarating. He _wanted_ to explore this new sensation, but not at the expensive of another. It would have been easier if this feeling didn't have to involve another person.

So he avoided dinner, did not go to eat the leftovers and did not go to his room. Instead he ended up exploring the high areas of the village at three in the morning, enjoying the cool desert air as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop. The next day he also skipped out on dinner, keeping himself busy with work. That night when he decided to go and get some air he found a small plate of food at his door with a note.

_Gaara-sama,_

_I'm not sure if I've done anything to upset you, but I know you haven't eaten in the past two days. It's a little cold now but please try to eat just a little, it will help you keep your strength up._

Hinata's name was written neatly at the bottom. Of course, she had never mentioned any of her concerns during their meeting a few hours ago. He was beginning to learn that she wasn't a very confrontational person. Gaara ate everything on the plate and re-read the small note a few times before letting out a small sigh. In his attempt to avoid an embarrassing situation for both of them, he had ended up unintentionally giving her the wrong idea once again.

_I am not very good at…whatever this is._

The Kazekage did not retire to his room, but he did write Hinata a small reply and placed it under her door before going out.

_Hinata-san,_

_The meal was very good. You have not done anything to upset me. I hope that we can still meet this Saturday afternoon. I will make the arrangements with Temari._

---

Hinata really wished Gaara had chosen a better time to avoid his siblings instead of leaving her with 'the wolves'. Obviously he had told his siblings that the two of them were going out for a few hours together, because they wouldn't _leave her alone_ about it. She had stopped counting the number of times she had politely informed them that it was _not_ a date but a friendly outing and she had sighed so much it was a wonder she even had any breath left.

The two of them were worse than five Neji's. It was very obvious, especially with Temari, that they were _very_ concerned about what would be happening with their little brother and what her personal opinion was on the entire thing.

Until they had started pestering her about it, she had really held no opinion and had taken the situation exactly as Gaara had expressed it. With the way the two of them were going on, however, she began to become a bit concerned. Hinata was sure that Gaara wouldn't have lied to her, but then he disappeared and that only made the teasing and questions worse. She wasn't dense and denial could only go so far.

When Saturday rolled around Hinata was at a complete loss of what to do, say, or how to react. Where initially she had decided to wear what she would normally wear she began to feel as if that wouldn't be good enough. Should she wear something more date-like? Should she wear makeup? Do something with her hair? She felt a bit overwhelmed over something that was supposed to be a simple outing. What if it really was a date? Did that mean that he liked her? Did she like him? Was something like that even possible for the two of them?

In the end she forced herself to dress normally, did nothing with her hair and wore no makeup. So what if Temari huffed about it, this _wasn't_ a date. After telling herself that enough times she felt a lot better and a bit more confident as she headed out to the agreed meeting place, a stone monument that resided close to the outskirts of the village. He was already there when she arrived, although she was actually ten minutes early. Sensing her presence he turned, his face that same expressionless mask save for the small but short smile he gave her in greeting.

It wasn't a date, but for some reason she found herself unable to stop her heart from skipping when he laid eyes on her. They were simply friends yet she found herself unable to stop blushing. This was Temari and Kankuro's fault, trying to make the situation more than what it was, she was obviously affected. Not that he wasn't handsome or anything, it was just…

"Hinata-san, I am glad you were able to make it." Despite the softness of his voice he cut straight through her thoughts. _At least he's wearing his normal clothes._

"Th-thank you for inviting me."

All of her concerns were laid to rest as the afternoon went on. They ended up walking around the less busy streets of the village and took turns asking each other questions about their lives. She tried very hard to only ask him questions concerning his life after he became Kazekage, knowing that his childhood had been traumatic. As expected, Hinata ended up talking more about herself than the other way around, but she really didn't mind. She told him about her past, her struggles and her successes. She told him about how she felt when she finally became a jounin three years ago and how honored she had felt when she had become an important figure at the hospital.

"You know, I do remember you from the chunin exams," he said suddenly during one of their moments of comfortable silence. "You fought your cousin."

This was a sensitive topic, but not one she was ashamed to talk about. What surprised her was the fact that he even remembered her "You remember that?"

He nodded "At the time I…thought differently about things, but besides Naruto and…Rock Lee," that had been an uncomfortable pause " you were the only one at the exams that fought until they nearly died because of what you believed in. I thought about that a few times when I decided I would become Kazekage. I didn't understand why you kept getting up back then, because to me you were weak and the weak didn't have a place in the world."

Instinctively, her hands moved to the spot above her breast where Neji had struck her all those years ago. He didn't look at her but she felt as if he was watching her movements anyway.

"When Naruto defeated me, I thought about your fight a few times after that. I wondered if you still believed in your words. It's easy to believe in yourself when no one can defeat your line of thinking, it is not so easy when you are utterly defeated. I wondered if defeat had made you change your way of thinking, if you had decided to go down a different path."

"That…that fight wasn't about winning," she began "I had just…I had wanted to change myself. I wanted to be brave and not run away from my problems or pretend that they would just go away if I ignored them long enough. I was terrified; Naruto-kun inspired me to stick to my nindo. Even though I lost I felt…victorious."

"You didn't hate your cousin or try to get revenge?"

Hinata shook her head "There was nothing to hate Neji-niisan for. I wasn't the one he hated; it was where I came from, what I represented. I was never angry with him, I was happy when we were able to become close again."

Gaara was silent for a long moment. "You are a very admirable person."

The Hyuuga heir would have blushed in embarrassment over the compliment if it hadn't been so laced with sorrow. She looked up at him, her expression concerned, but he refused to return her gaze, focusing on the path ahead of them. If she were a more outgoing person she would have held his hand or given him a hug. Unfortunately, physical affection was not something she had experienced outside of her team, especially not in her own home. Hyuuga were strict, controlled and traditional and not for the first time she seriously disliked it. When her friends needed comfort, she always felt as if she were lacking in this area.

"I…I think Gaara-sama is a very admirable person as well. You've been through so much and yet you still found the strength to love and cherish others. It only feels easier to push people away and it takes a strong person to admit that you can't do it all alone. I-I don't think I could have went through what you and Naruto-kun went through and be the person I am now. I don't think I would have survived."

Gaara didn't say anything else and she didn't try to press the issue. When she changed the subject to something a bit lighter it was a welcome change. From there they went to a rather quaint location to eat. Apparently the place had been in business since before the two of them had even been born and while it wasn't bustling, they made enough customers to get by. Suna food was spicy but amazing, she found herself trying to figure out the ingredients to her meal so she could try to make it later. When he suggested that he could ask the chef she gave him a horrified look.

"No, you can't do that! You're never supposed to give out your secrets," she smiled "Besides, the challenge comes in trying different ways to make it the way it originally tasted from memory. If you know it, it's not as fun."

He didn't get it and his expression clearly showed as much, so she giggled and waved it off. There were some things that people didn't really need to fully understand and Hinata was learning that Gaara was simply too literal of a person to fully understand the subtleties of minor things. If it wasn't clear cut and logical, he had a difficult time relating.

They did not stay out too late, returning to the compound at around ten in the evening in an attempt to avoid his siblings until morning. They actually sat on the rooftop for an hour or so after their return, looking up at the stars. Being in a place like Suna where there weren't an abundance of lights, the night sky was littered with stars as clear as day. It was absolutely breathtaking.

"Gaara-sama, thank you so much for allowing me to join you on your day off. I…really enjoyed myself and I feel as if we've really started to become friends." Hinata was looking up at the stars as she said this, but she felt it when he looked at her.

She hadn't expected a reply, not really, so she was surprised when he spoke up a few minutes later. "I do not have very many friends. I am glad that I can count you among that list. I would…like to do this again someday."

"Only if you don't leave me to your sister and brother for two days," her smile was slightly exhausted; slightly playful "they were relentless. I don't think you would want to know what they said."

"I can imagine. I am sorry for that, I didn't mean to…"

"No no! It's fine, really. I'm just glad that things turned out the way they did. I'm really happy to be here, right now, like this."

Hinata thought she heard something along the lines of 'So am I' but it was so quiet it was easy to believe that she had thought it instead. Either way, for some reason it made her stomach feel funny and her face grew very hot. The thought of being alone with him again like this made her feel happier than she felt she should be.

_You're over thinking things again. Just…enjoy this moment for what it is._

AN: Okay, this has been bugging me for a while so I'm going to address it here. I've been working on this very angsty fic. It is quite dark and not a little bit twisted. It is the first angst-type fic I've ever worked on, so I'm feeling slightly apprehensive. If you do wish to leave a review, I'd really love to hear your guy's opinions on it.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Apologies. In accordance to my profile I had claimed I would increase updates to twice a week instead of once, yet I forgot to upload a new chapter on Friday. So you will have this update and then another one Monday (Tokyo time). Also, I am trying to make it so that The Debut and this story finish at the same time, so if you are currently reading that as well I have uploaded a few chapters over the weekend. Sorry about the delay!

**Chapter Four**

There had been a few minor sandstorms when the Hyuuga had first arrived, as Temari had warned. Around the beginning of her third month in Suna, two major things happened. One was a terrible rockslide that had injured many Suna shinobi. The second was a massive sandstorm that lasted for three entire weeks.

Rockslides weren't as common anymore thanks to Gaara, who had helped reinforce prior hazardous areas using the hardest minerals from the earth and his sand. Before that, it had been much more difficult to manage as there hadn't been many skilled earth users in the village, surprisingly enough. This particular rockslide was actually due to shinobi error. Two young chunin had been horsing around during watch with the end result almost killing three others. The Kazekage arrived personally to help dig out the victims and restore the wall to its original strength. With Gaara no longer being a holder of the sand demon, helping to remove all of the massive boulders and restoring the ridiculously large chunk of the wall had been draining. In the end, Gaara had delegated the two responsible to their commander. He retired to his chambers early to get a bit of rest.

Temari took over for the remainder of the day with Baki, although the two of them seemed to agree that he needed the rest anyway – it was only a shame he had to be forced to do so.

Only a few hours had passed since the rockslide yet the Kazekage found himself restless. He was exhausted, that was true, but there was something off, something that was tingling in the back of his mind. He lay on his bed staring at the ceiling, another tingling sensation forming at the pit of his stomach. It began to spread all over his body, ending at his fingers and toes. He _knew_ this sensation, what was it?

A high pitched alarm sounded off in the distance and the Kazekage was out and on his feet, heading to his door. It opened before he could reach the doorknob, Temari's face entering his field of vision.

"Sandstorm," Temari said, confirming his suspicions "They must think it's serious if they've set off the alarms."

It was serious, he could feel it. Minor sandstorms were like a tickle in the back of his mind, easy to ignore. Major sandstorms were completely different and there was a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. Something was still off.

"Let me know within the hour if there is anyone missing in the compound," he leaned against the door frame, still drained from his earlier ordeal.

Gaara then went out to one of the balconies, his eyes narrowing as a burst of wind hit him. He could see the dark mass of sand and wind in the distance, heading straight for the village with incredible force. There wasn't too much to worry about, everyone in Suna knew exactly what to do when a sandstorm of this magnitude emerged. Within the hour every citizen would be secured and the entire village on lockdown. Nothing in, nothing out, all courtesy of Mother Nature.

He was still staring out at the approaching storm when Temari appeared beside him forty five minutes later. Her hair looked a bit windswept, face pale with a slightly panicked expression on her face. Suddenly that feeling of dread moved from his stomach to his throat.

"Gaara, I can't find Hinata anywhere," his sister panted "the hospital staff said she had already left for the day, no one has seen her in the compound. I didn't…I mean I didn't think we'd get a sandstorm like this so I think I forgot to tell her about the alarms. If she's out there she might not even realize something's going on."

Externally, the redhead looked completely neutral save for the slight widening of the eyes at her initial announcement. Internally, he could feel his heart beginning to pound and fear gripped him. Fortunately, he was a master of self-control and self-discipline, so he pushed down the negative feelings and forced himself to think. If Hinata wasn't at the hospital and she wasn't in the compound that, thankfully, didn't leave many options left. The Hyuuga was also intelligent, if she could hear the alarms, she would have been at the very least curious and noticed how everyone was rushing to secure their homes. There was only one location he could think of where she would be holed up, and it was definitely secluded from the residential areas.

"She's at the greenhouse," he was sure of it. She had mentioned that she enjoyed being around the plants and how comfortable the place made her feel. "Sometimes she even naps there."

"Meaning that she probably hasn't even heard the alarms," Temari shook her head "Damnit, I _knew_ I should have told her, there's no way we can get over there and get her back before the sandstorm hits…" Startled, Temari took a startled step forward "Gaara!"

With one fluid movement he had jumped on the balcony's ledge. Reaching out his arm, he grabbed his gourd as it floated to him and strapped it on his back. He wasn't wearing much, his turtleneck shirt and pants, but he really didn't have the time or luxury to get fully dressed.

"Gaara, you can't go out there," his sister hesitated, unsure if she wanted to physically stop him or not. The wind was blowing harder, kicking up the sand in the area. "You've already used up a lot of chakra as it is, if you go out there now and the brunt of the storm hits you two…"

Her cry was swallowed by the wind as he jumped.

------

"Hinata-san, you need to wake up."

Something was shaking her lightly. It was a weird feeling because it affected her dream which had involved her flying in the air with Tonton, Pakkun, and Akamaru to her feeling as if she were drowning in the ocean. The waves kept rocking her back and forth and she was trying to swim but she was slowly being engulfed as a voice from the heavens kept calling her name.

"Hinata-san, you need to get up immediately."

Her first reaction once she snapped out of her dream was to bolt from her chair, hands glowing, Byakugan activated. It was a defense mechanism; no one usually touched her while she was sleeping. Strong hands snapped around each of her wrists, holding her in place. Startled, her eyes shot up and she realized that the chakra pattern was familiar. Fully awake, her natural vision came into play and she blinked up at the Kazekage.

Oh crap.

"G-Gaara-sama!" she looked panicked "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…"

Instead of looking offended he looked distracted. It was so unusual to see such an open expression on his normally calm face. Without saying another word he let go of one of her wrists only to pull her along by the other. His steps were hurried, causing the Hyuuga heir to begin to feel alarmed.

"We must leave immediately," he explained softly "There is a powerful sandstorm about to hit very soon and I don't know how long it will last. We need to get you back to the compound."

The wind chose that moment to howl, causing Hinata to look up at the clear ceiling. Where the sky had been clear before now it was an unnaturally dark color. The plants that were outside of the greenhouse were blowing around furiously. In the distance she could hear a high pitched alarm, although it sounded muffled with the high winds outside.

When they reached the door she felt something warm grip her hand. Cheeks instantly heating she looked down at his larger hand engulfing hers. Something hot began to form in her stomach even with the danger outside.

"Whatever happens, do not let go of my hand." It was a soft warning, holding no emotion. It cooled the warmth in her stomach a bit leaving her unsure of whether or not it was a good thing.

Then the door was thrust open and the wind hit them full force. Dirt immediately stung her eyes and she cried out, gripping his hand tightly. Blinded, she followed his lead while trying to clear her eyes with her free hand. When she was somewhat successful she looked up at him. If the wind or the sand was bothering him, he certainly wasn't showing it. The Kazekage walked briskly although his gaze was off in the distance. It was already becoming harder to see as it grew darker. The wind was deafening, she was sure he had probably said something to her within the past five minutes but it never reached her ears.

He abruptly stopped. When she looked up at him again he was staring directly off to the left, his eyes narrowing. She couldn't hear him but she was able to read his lips.

"We won't make it."

Pale eyes widened as she realized what he was referring to. There, coming up on them fast, was a massive dark…cloud. No, it wasn't a cloud, it was sand. It was as if darkness were engulfing the buildings, rolling towards them at incredible speed.

Just before it hit them, Gaara jerked her and she found herself colliding into his chest. Bringing her down to a kneeling position his arms wrapped around her shoulders tightly. With a cry she closed her eyes and waited for the brunt of the storm to hit them full force.

There was a crashing sound, although it sounded more like heavy rain slamming on a window. The wind abruptly stopped and she could now hear her own breathing. When she opened her eyes, however, there was only darkness.

"Hinata-san, are you alright?" His voice sounded strained as one arm dropped from her shoulders, the other holding her close to him. Her hands and face were pressed against his chest; she could hear the steady beat of his heart. Not erratic or fast, calm and tranquil, as if they weren't caught in the middle of a massive sandstorm.

"I-I'm fine but…I can't see." She was a little proud of herself for sounding more steady than she felt.

"I created a sand barrier around us," he explained, "however, we cannot stay here long; we must find a way back to the compound." A soft sigh and Hinata thought she saw something drop – his hand? - as her eyes adjusted to the darkness "There is zero visibility outside, even I can't guide us through a sandstorm of this magnitude."

"This is my fault…I'm so sorry." Her heart dropped to her stomach. She should have known better, instead she allowed herself to get caught in a difficult situation and now even the Kazekage was paying the price.

"It's not your fault but that doesn't matter right now." There was silence for a moment before he spoke again "Hinata-san your Byakugan, it can see through most objects correct? How long is your range?"

"Oh…oh!" Since she had made it a point to not use her bloodline limit while in a foreign country – sans the accidental activation minutes ago – the thought hadn't crossed her mind. "Y-yes, and I can see a little over ten kilometers."

"Look for the highest concentration of chakra signatures; that will be where the compound is."

"Yes," immediately she activated her bloodline limit, her vision expanding exponentially. The sandstorm outside was somewhat of a hindrance but it took her no time at all to find what she was looking for. "I see it!" She exclaimed happily. The look immediately changed when she took note of his chakra levels and the amount of chakra he was using to keep the sand barrier strong against the wind.

"Gaara-sama…your chakra…"

He stood, pulling her up with him. His arm dropped from her shoulder slowly, almost lingering, before she felt his fingertips slide down her arm to grab her hand once more. Hinata was grateful for the darkness, otherwise he would have seen just how that had affected her.

_What is this?_

"We must hurry," he said, cutting her off "you will need to guide me. I can keep the barrier around us."

She didn't argue, instead moving forward in the direction of the compound. In all honesty, she had absolutely no idea how Gaara was currently capable of what he was doing. His chakra levels were incredibly low and quickly depleting as he poured more into the barrier protecting them from the elements.

Because she could clearly see him due to her vision she did not turn but her voice sounded worried. "Gaara-sama you…"

"I'm fine." There was finality to his words; he didn't want to argue it.

Her tiny hand squeezed his larger one, a frown on her face. Something had happened to him earlier, something that had drained his chakra. Despite that, he had still come out here, knowing that he was weakened.

He had come out here for her.

They didn't speak much as she continued to guide them back. He had staggered once but refused her help, insisting that they keep pushing forward. Whenever he did speak, his voice sounded more strained each time.

"We're almost there," she said encouragingly when she could see the chakra levels and the outline of the building.

"Take us to the side entrance; the front entrance's doors are too massive and would only be a burden."

"O-okay."

There were several chakra signatures coming from the side entrance as they neared, one of them she recognized as Temari's. Were they aware that they were arriving or were they simply waiting because they knew the Kazekage would return from that direction? They increased their steps until the barrier seemed to hit something solid. There was the sound of shifting sand and a bright light as the door opened, revealing his sister and a small team of shinobi behind her.

"Gaara! Hinata!" Temari quickly reached out and pulled them in. Just before Gaara could enter, however, the sand barrier dropped as he fell forward and on top of Hinata. The rest of the shinobi pulled them in a slammed the door closed, barricading it. The Hyuuga had been saved by Temari, while the remaining shinobi kept Gaara from completely falling over. Immediately Hinata rushed to his side as he was gently placed on the floor, unconscious.

-----

When he finally opened his eyes he found himself back in his room on his bed. Disoriented, dizzy, and confused, he slowly sat up, his hand moving to his throbbing head. It was dark inside of his room although the howling wind outside kept it from being quiet. His entire body felt weak and a little shaky, it took him longer than normal for his eyes to adjust to the dark. Shifting, he turned on his bedside lamp.

Cutting on the light didn't help. Wincing, he placed a hand over his eyes and tried to fight back his discomfort.

_Where is Hinata?_

The last thing he remembered was Temari's face as he had felt himself pitch forward and then nothing. His room was empty save for a small tray on his nightstand with a covered bowl. Relief spread through him when he realized the bowl contained a rather delicious smelling soup, still hot, so Hinata must have stopped by only minutes ago.

Eating helped, he found himself feeling much better. He wondered at how much time had passed since returning from outside. The sandstorm was going strong but he had no intentions of remaining idle.

Despite protests from Baki and his sister, Gaara returned to his office and went right to work the moment he could. He looked over the reports claiming that everyone had been present and accounted for in the village which was a relief for him. There were a few other lingering reports from a few days ago that needed his review, mostly on completed missions.

Meetings were postponed until the next day at Temari's insistence and he didn't really feel like fighting her on it. He understood that she was very concerned with his health and while he did enjoy working and feeling as if he were doing something for the village, keeping his family – reasonably – happy was also important to him.

Instead of going to dinner he chose that time to take a small nap which helped in making him feel more recharged. After that he worked through the rest of the night and well into morning. This had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he could be possibly avoiding Hinata, or that he didn't want to remain idle because when he was he couldn't stop thinking about her. Not at all.

His inability to fully understand what was going on with him was growing frustrating. When he should have been focusing on nothing beyond getting Hinata to safety from the storm he instead had kept thinking about how nice she had felt against him. Soft. Feminine. His concentration had faltered numerous times because he would drift off on thoughts of how he enjoyed the feel of her hand. The small squeezes of encouragement she had given him had felt like small treasures.

_I do not think this is as simple as a 'crush' any longer._

It wasn't as if he had never regarded another female as attractive or pretty, it had simply never mattered to him. As a man, he also understood desire and lust; he wasn't immune to such things. What he was beginning to feel for this woman was to a point of distraction and _that_ was what was bothering him. He did think that Hinata was pretty, beautiful even, with her pale skin, lavender eyes, and long dark hair. The redhead also agreed with Kankuro that she was desirable. It was hard _not_ to think of that when he thought about how good and right she had felt against him. If that were all there was to it, he felt that he could have controlled those emotions as he had in the past.

There was more to Hinata than her looks, however, it was everything about her that seemed to stand out to him in a way no other female had. The way she laughed, her determination and dedication, how easily she cared and accepted others exactly as they were. Hinata never complained about anyone or anything, no one was a burden or an annoyance. Sometimes, when he looked at her, he felt at times that she was looking _into_ him with those pale eyes of hers. Naruto had once told him of a girl who had fallen in love with him and had been since childhood. She had loved him even though his village had been afraid of him and hated him.

"_Even when she found out, it didn't change a thing,_" his friend had told him _"It was like none of that mattered, that I was me, just me. It was an amazing feeling. If you ever find a girl like that Gaara, don't _ever_ let her go."_

At the time, Gaara had found it strange because Naruto had ended up with Haruno anyway, not with the girl who had claimed she had loved him. When he mentioned it his friend's expression had shifted to sadness and a bit of guilt.

"_She's an awesome person and I love her…just not 'that' kind of love. It's kinda like,it just feels like I'm not the right guy for her you know? I dunno; stuff like this is weird man. Wanna go get some ramen?"_

That had been the end of the conversation although Gaara had thought about it for a long time after. It wasn't as if females like that didn't exist in Suna, Matsuri had ended up developing some sort of hero-type crush on him. It hadn't mattered to her that he held Shukaku, but he had never felt anything beyond the student/teacher relationship. Women close to Matsuri's age and slightly older had also expressed an interest, but they were…people he was supposed to protect. It was difficult for him to explain, as the Kazekage he viewed all of the villagers as people precious to him but any romantic aspect to that felt weird and inappropriate.

Drifting in thought, he wondered if that girl Naruto had mentioned had been Hinata. Gaara wasn't really sure why he felt that way, simply a feeling.

_Or perhaps hope. If she could love him, she could love you, right? Genuine love right from the start, not just because you eventually became a figure for people to love and respect._

Which brought him back to his current frustration: being unable to properly understand and control these thoughts and feelings. No matter how many times he tried to think of something else, eventually his thoughts would drift to her. Did he even want something like love from her? He enjoyed her company, he thought she was an interesting person, but there were realities he needed to face. She was one, a Konoha shinobi. Secondly, she was heir to one of Konoha's most powerful clans, the Hyuuga. Doing the 'dating scene' as Kankuro called it was virtually impossible and as a Kage, he really shouldn't be thinking about her in that sort of light anyway. The woman was on a mission to help his village, not to get involved with its leader.

_I've been staring at this document for twenty minutes._

Resisting the urge to show his obvious frustration, he once again forced himself to focus back on his work. As the hours went by, however, he realized he had made a severe mistake. Since the sandstorm had the village on lockdown, his steady stream of reports and documents had ceased. Since he had been basically working non-stop for the past twenty four hours he was now completely caught up. In short, he had worked himself out of work to do.

_If Temari were here, she'd laugh at this…_

Calling for his aide, he learned that the only thing he had on his agenda were two meetings, both with Konoha shinobi. Gaara had frowned at him in confusion.

"Nara Shikamaru is here sir," he explained "He arrived a few hours before the storm hit and has been with Temari-sama."

That made sense then. Gaara remembered something about Naruto sending someone to discuss some diplomatic and 'top secret' – aka Uchiha Sasuke – business. The fact that he was with Temari was also not a surprise, the two of them had some sort of strange off and on relationship Gaara decided would be better he remain ignorant on. In his opinion, he believed that the Uchiha deserved a second chance, but not at the expense of his friends. He would remain loyal to Naruto on this issue even if his personal feelings were on the fence.

"Have both of them come at the same time," the Kazekage instructed. Perhaps if someone else was there he would be able to concentrate more on what was important and not on Hinata. With the Nara's personality, it seemed logical enough.

He busied himself by looking over the mission requests that were supposed to be categorized and arranged by others. Gaara knew he'd get scolded for it later, his subordinates _hated_ it when he delegated work to them only to go and do it himself later. A proper excuse would need to be given, telling them 'it was that or I go insane' probably wouldn't go over well. Giving death threats – something he hadn't done since he was twelve – would probably get him laughed at.

_Hn. Does that make me a pushover…?_

A knock interrupted him from his thoughts. Looking up from his scrolls his body tensed for just a moment as the object of his affections entered the room.

"You are ten minutes early." Had that sounded panicked? He mentally sighed and tried once again to reign in his emotions.

She gave him a small and slightly nervous smile "I'm always ten minutes early, Gaara-sama."

Oh. Right. He had forgotten that. _This 'distraction' is becoming ridiculous._ "I hope you don't mind if we wait for Nara before we begin."

Standing at her usual respectful distance from him she nodded, her smile widening "I don't mind, it'll be good to see Shikamaru-kun again."

Gaara blinked at her. Those two were on a first name basis? She also spoke of him as if they were familiar, which for Hinata was different. She was always utterly polite, still addressing him as 'sama' and his siblings as 'san'. This new bit of information…bothered him for some reason.

He was surprised once again when she actually began to walk toward him, a worried expression on her face. Gaara was barely able to keep his eyes from widening as she walked around his desk.

"Temari-san told me that you haven't been resting properly and you didn't come for dinner last night," without even asking, she placed her hand on his forehead and placed one on her own "You don't have a fever…how are you feeling?"

----

Her thoughts were mostly on making sure that her 'patient' was feeling well – Gaara had a rather nasty habit of taking care of everyone but himself - so she completely missed the emotion that flashed in the Kazekage's eyes when she had touched him. He certainly looked better, he wasn't as pale and he didn't seem fatigued or weak. Hinata had been happy when she found he had eaten the soup, she had put quite a bit of helpful herbs inside. The chakra she had given him shortly after his collapse seemed to have helped as well. She still felt horrible about the entire episode, if she had been more careful it never would have happened and the Kazekage never would have had to put himself at risk.

"I feel fine." Was the eventual answer, although she noted that it sounded a bit off. A worried frown emerged, even without a fever he could possibly still get sick, perhaps she should…

Gaara stood then, gently removing her hand from his forehead in the process. Instead of letting go, however, he held onto her wrist, looking down at her. She had never been a tall girl, coming at around five foot three, four if she wore heels. All of the boys she had known in her life had grown taller, much taller, and the Kazekage was no exception. A guess of him being around five foot ten or eleven seemed accurate which made him look very imposing when they were only inches apart.

_He has really beautiful eyes._

Their gazes locked and Hinata felt her heart jump to her throat. His face seemed as blank as ever, it was his eyes that gave her pause. Pale green which normally looked kind or warm now seemed…heated. It was the best word she could come up with to describe it and she fought down the urge to gulp. Her heart began to pound loudly in her ears.

"Gaara-sama?" Her voice sounded small. Her face began to heat in a furious blush that was reaching for her ears.

He tugged on her wrist and she gave no resistance when their bodies met, in fact her other hand was now resting on his chest, just above his heart.

_His heartbeat…it's so strong and fast, not like before…_

Warmth filled her when his other hand found her waist. It felt good to her, warm and comforting. The entire time his gaze never left hers, searching. Confusion and longing began to mix and swirl in her stomach. Her breath caught when he dipped his head toward her.

_Is he…is he…?_

The thought of pushing him away never crossed her mind, she was too stunned. This had to be some sort of dream, the Kazekage, no _Gaara_ would never do something this forward and besides that, he wasn't even attracted to her…right? His behavior towards her had always been professional during work, kind but distant outside. He treated her no differently than anyone else, so she _had_ to be dreaming because oh gods his lips were inches away from hers and…

A pause. His eyes narrowed and shifted to the door. "Nara is here," he whispered, his lips so close she could almost feel them brushing against hers.

Was that _his _voice? That deep, slightly husky and incredibly sexy…could he really sound like _that?_

_I think I'm going to pass out._

To her credit, she did not pass out, instead she had what probably looked like a dumbfounded expression as he pulled away from her, leaving her feeling cold and completely out of sorts. Her body moved automatically, hurrying over to stand at her usual spot, face burning and gaze to the floor.

What just happened? Did that really happen, did he really almost kiss her? Hinata struggled to school her expression to something close to normal as a knock came from behind her. A shaky breath escaped her lips; she could still feel the warmth of his hand on her hip, the way her body heated when he looked down at her like…like he had wanted to _eat_ her.

_Don't faint. Please don't faint._

When Shikamaru entered he was like a beacon of light and salvation to her. If there was anyone that was completely normal it was Nara Shikamaru and Hinata found herself in a desperate need of something normal then and there. She couldn't even help her sigh of relief and flashed him a bright smile.

"Shikamaru-kun," to her, her voice sounded relieved, to everyone else, it had sounded a little breathy and slightly husky.

"Yo, Hinata." He gave her a short wave although his small smile was mixed with a bit of confusion at her tone. He recovered quickly "I heard they had sent someone else besides Sakura to come to Suna, I didn't know it was you. I guess that's why I haven't seen you at Kurenai's."

"O-oh. They didn't tell you?" Her brows furrowed "I would have thought someone would have said something to you. How are Kurenai-sensei and Akari-chan?"

A small smirk "Fine. They miss you, of course. Akari has been asking where you've been for the past few months, she says when you come back you better have something 'really awesome' for her."

Hinata giggled, shaking her head lightly. Kurenai and Asuma's child could be a handful at times. Highly intelligent, very bossy when she wanted to be.

Still giggling, she took a step closer to her friend "I…"

"I am sorry to interrupt, but I believe we should begin the meeting soon."

It wasn't what he said so much as _how_ he said it that caused a shiver to race through her spine. Shikamaru didn't seem to notice but when Hinata looked up, she saw it, swimming in his green eyes.

Gaara was _pissed_.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

'Pissed' wasn't a good word to use to describe the emotion that was rushing through his body. 'Livid' was a better term. It had been years since he had felt this angry and he had absolutely _no idea why_.

All he currently understood was that Hinata and Shikamaru seemed to be very close, closer than _he_ was with her at the present, and the more familiar she acted around her 'friend' the angrier the Kazekage became. He didn't feel an urge to kill Shikamaru but 'maiming' and 'beating' were definitely in there. It was such a sudden and unexpected feeling that he had no idea how to properly control it. It was taking more willpower than he felt he had just to keep him in his seat instead of launching himself at someone that he had never held any ill will towards.

_This is…what is wrong with me? What is this heavy feeling in my chest?_

It appeared that the only one not aware of the situation was Shikamaru who stood in his normal relaxed stance. He gave Hinata a strange look before turning to Gaara.

"Yeah, sorry about that." The Nara spoke up "Got carried away I guess. You wanna go first Hinata? Some of what I gotta tell Gaara is top secret."

The Hyuuga didn't answer at first, her gaze focused on Gaara. Her face had drained of color and she looked anxious.

"Hinata? Hey Hinata!" Shikamaru waved a hand in front of her face when she remained unresponsive. Blinking, she turned to her friend.

"What? Oh. Y-yes, I don't mind, I c-can go first."

Hinata wouldn't look at him again, which was fine because Gaara didn't really _want_ her to look at him. A part of him was angry with her and he understood this particular emotion. He felt betrayed by her, a feeling that didn't make sense for him to have as Hinata really hadn't _done_ anything to warrant his ire.

_I'm being highly irrational. I need to calm down._

Except he couldn't. It wasn't for lack of trying, it was just that the more he looked at the two of them standing together the more his chest burned. Gaara knew that Shikamaru was 'dating' his sister and Hinata more than likely really did see him as only a friend, but that didn't seem to matter to this particular emotion. Rational thinking just wasn't cutting it.

After a moment, when Gaara didn't respond and simply _stared_ at her, Hinata hesitantly began, pale gaze still on the ground as if there was something amazing winking up at her.

"Um, I'm actually n-not here to give a report so much as to um, make a request." A pause. When Gaara still remained silent she continued "Um, well, I've been hearing that the sandstorm is probably not going to be leaving anytime soon. Well, the training that I had lined up was kind of important and um, it's going to set me back if we don't finish it. So I was wondering, with your permission of course, if I could extend my time here by however long the sandstorm lasts to make up for lost time."

She did look up at him then but his expression revealed nothing. "That's fine. Do whatever you want."

Hinata stiffened and the Kazekage felt Shikamaru's gaze flicker over to him curiously. He was aware his voice sounded cold and hard, that he sounded harsh and rude, but he simply couldn't help it and part of him didn't care. Wanting his voice to sound neutral and it sounding neutral seemed to be two different things for him right now and he was at a loss for what to do because he didn't even know why he was angry to begin with.

"U-um of course I'll make sure to clear it with the Hokage…" her voice sounded small and shaky.

"Is there anything else?"

"…N-no."

"Thank you, Hyuuga-san. As Nara explained, his report holds top secret information so…"

"R-right." Hinata bowed respectfully and turned to leave.

"Hey, we'll talk later okay?" Shikamaru said, although his gaze slid over to the Kazekage as he did. Gaara's expression didn't change.

"Yes, that...that would be nice."

_Get out!_ A part of his mind screamed at her. As if she had heard him, she quickly exited the room and closed the door behind her softly.

----

"Temari-san, I…I think I did something rude and offended Gaara-sama."

"Huh?" Temari was reaching underneath the bar in the kitchen to grab some sort of spice Hinata had asked her to get. Tonight they would be eating dinner in the dining room instead of the kitchen table, since Shikamaru would be joining them. Kankuro was in there now, setting up the plates. "What do you mean rude?"

The explanation given to Temari didn't make any sense. Apparently, Hinata believed that during their meeting Gaara had become angry with her because she had held a conversation with Shikamaru as if he hadn't been present. Temari could tell something else was up, but with Hinata looking distressed holding a kitchen knife at the same time, the sand shinobi felt it was better to leave it alone. For now.

"Kankuro, you hear that?" The blonde called towards the other room.

"Yeah, I heard," he walked into the kitchen, a deep scowl on his unpainted face "I didn't think _Gaara_ would act like that though."

She nodded, glad that they had reached the same conclusion. The jounin had known for a while that Gaara had some sort of crush or something on the Hyuuga, but months had passed with no real development. Temari had figured it could have been because her little brother had settled down on his feelings and just considered Hinata a friend. Obviously, that was _not_ the case.

Her little brother was _jealous_.

Briefly, she wondered if 'Gaara' and 'jealous' could even belong in the same sentence together. Ever since he had made the decision to work towards becoming the Kazekage he'd changed completely from the angry killer he had been. In the past eleven years Temari had never seen Gaara anything beyond compassionate and kind, 'angry' was something she didn't even associate with him anymore. Her little brother worked too hard, he cared about his people deeply, he was a great brother and leader, but angry? Jealous? Hell, she'd never even seen Gaara look at the opposite sex sideways, much less feel that strongly towards someone. Just what was Hyuuga Hinata to him?

First things first, calming Hinata down. "Look, Hinata, Gaara isn't the type of person to get angry over something that trivial. It's not your fault he acted like that okay? Sometimes guys are assholes and _apparently_ my little brother is no longer immune to it."

She locked gazes with Kankuro who nodded; a grim and determined expression on his face. "I got this." His voice sounded unusually hard "Don't worry about it." When he walked back into the dining room Temari moved around the kitchen counter to put a hand on Hinata's slender shoulder. The girl looked awful and she was sure Hinata was almost near tears.

_Damn. What the hell Gaara? And why haven't you talked to us about this shit? This isn't just some sort of school boy crush, that's for damn sure._

Temari liked Hinata. The younger woman was cute with her still slightly rounded face and large eyes so full of emotion. She wasn't the type of person who associated with females easily since she was so tomboyish, but Hinata also held a tomboyish quality to her while still remaining very feminine. It was really hard to dislike her, especially when everything she did was sincere and well, her cooking was outstanding. Hinata had absolutely no idea what was going on and it really wasn't fair to her.

Not that she was going to tell her the truth. She liked Hinata, but she was still Gaara's big sister and she would respect his privacy. It was obvious that whatever the Kazekage felt for this Konoha shinobi he had kept to himself all this time. It wasn't her place to spill the beans, especially since she wasn't even sure exactly what it was Gaara felt.

"I…but I…" Hinata's soft voice cut the wind user out of her thoughts "I mean it _was_ rude so…I guess I understand it…"

"Hinata, there's no justification for Gaara acting like an ass." Temari was firm "We'll talk to him so don't worry about that, but you didn't do _anything_ wrong okay? Don't blame yourself for this."

The Hyuuga nodded but didn't look any better. Her gaze was sad as she looked down at the chopped vegetables. Temari set down the small bottle of spice Hinata had wanted.

"Look, let me help you make dinner, what do you need me to do?"

"Ah…" a small frown "Um, could you…finish the vegetables? Just cut them like that."

Shikamaru came in as dinner was closer to completion. Quickly, she pulled him to the side so that Hinata wouldn't overhear them. Shikamaru was the neutral third party and the best one to get some real answers from. His gaze was inquisitive as he regarded her but remained silent. That was his way, if you had something to say, you'd say it.

Temari glanced over once more to make sure Hinata was distracted before speaking "Hey, do you think Gaara was acting strange during your guy's meeting?"

Her boyfriend gave her a 'what are you talking about?' sort of look before leaning back against the far wall of the dining room. "Well, now that you mention it…he was quieter than normal," he snorted "Gaara's always pretty short and to the point about stuff but this time it was like he didn't even want to be bothered." The smirk he gave her was tinted with nervousness "He was also giving off this weird vibe. Not like killing intent or anything like that, it just felt like I was in a room with a wild tiger waiting to pounce. It's been a long time since I've felt any sort of hostility from _that_ guy."

"Well, Hinata was talking to me about it earlier; she was convinced that Gaara was angry with her. _I_ know what the real reason is,"

"Which would be…?"

"He's jealous. A few months ago he told me and Kankuro that he was 'attracted' to Hinata. They went out on I guess it was a date once and then nothing for months. We thought maybe he had gotten over it or something but…"

Her boyfriend stared at her. "You're joking."

"Be nice if I were huh?" Crossing her arms, she frowned, looking at him "Well, whatever it is, it's definitely _not_ a crush. I should have expected this, Gaara's never shown an interest in any other girl until now. It's only natural that he would take it seriously."

A smile flickered on Temari's lips when he sighed loudly, thumping the back of his head against the wall. "Great. This is just great. Your brother's finally hit puberty at the age of twenty three and _I'm_ the one he gets pissed off over. You gonna do anything?"

"Kankuro said he was going to handle it."

Another snort. "Then I'm dead."

Chuckling, Temari wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his "I'll protect you, crybaby."

"Your brother is going to make things worse you know." Shikamaru complained, his arms coming around her waist "He's _really_ good at pissing people off."

"Mmm…" she agreed, kissing him. He hesitated at first, always weird about being so intimate when there were others around, before leaning in. "I'll be damage control if it gets out of hand," she said against his lips "besides, it's not really _you_ he's mad at. If I know my brother, he's probably confused as hell and lashing out because he doesn't know what else to do. You know him Shika, he _never_ gets angry."

A sigh "Does Hinata know any of this?"

"No, and let's keep it that way. Gaara needs to figure his shit out and tell her himself. I'm telling you because you're my boyfriend and because you kinda sorta got dragged into it."

He shifted to make himself more comfortable against the wall, but he didn't say anything for a long moment. "Hinata's my friend, but yeah, it's not my place to get directly involved. I don't want to see her hurt though, even if it is Gaara we're talking about."

Fair enough. "Okay. If it gets out of hand I'll step in. I don't think it will, it's not like they're kids or anything, but if Gaara is acting this unpredictable it's better to be safe than sorry." A small smile "I'll look out for her, I promise."

-----

He had not been given a choice as to whether or not he was going to dinner. Temari stopped by and told him that if he skipped out on _this_ dinner he'd regret it. Since his sister was good on her promises Gaara showed up, on time, despite the turbulent feelings in his gut.

As a friend, he had been a complete ass to Hinata, he knew this. He couldn't shake the pained expression on her face out of his mind. He had even called her 'Hyuuga-san' instead of by her name and she _had_ noticed. Try as he might, he simply could not put a clamp on his feelings. He was angry at himself, angry at her for a reason he didn't understand, and overall incredibly frustrated.

On top of that, he couldn't get the image of almost kissing her out of his head either. Nothing about his actions had been logical, Hinata had touched him and he had just reacted. The hand that had rested on her hip still felt warm and his body felt hot whenever he thought about how close his lips had been to hers.

_This is insane. I've got to get a hold on this before something happens._

Like ripping apart Temari's boyfriend. The entire meeting Gaara had to control the urge to jump on Shikamaru and just…

Just what? He still didn't know. Just something. Anything. Preferably something involving pain. These sorts of feelings weren't him, not anymore. Hatred and anger, he had long since conquered those inner demons and now it seemed they were trying to return with a heavy vengeance.

Inwardly, he was proud of himself when he walked into the dining room and calmly sat at the table. Everyone except Hinata was already sitting and their conversations stopped short when he entered.

"Glad you could join us," Temari said to him with a smile. Gaara merely stared at her as he sat down at the head of the table. Kankuro was to his left, Temari beside him with Shikamaru in front of her, leaving Hinata's seat to be on his right side. A suspicious feeling came over him but he remained silent.

Dinner was some sort of beef stir fry with salad and rolls. It wasn't as elaborate as Hinata could get, but it wasn't any less delicious. For the most part there was little talking, allowing his thoughts to wander once more. So far he felt as if he was doing a pretty good job as the others carried on with their smaller conversations. He did not look at Hinata although he could sometimes feel her gaze on him. There was tension in the air, uncomfortable and slightly overpowering.

_What should I do? Should I…perhaps I could speak with her later or perhaps it would be best if I did nothing at all? She will not be here forever and once she leaves this feeling should fade._

Not that he wanted to stop holding feelings for her, simply that they were becoming too overwhelming for him. He enjoyed being her friend and spending time with her, but he didn't like the more hostile emotions he was experiencing from it. In addition to that, he had hurt her because of his inability to control his emotions. Would it be better if he stopped all contact?

Right as he thought that an uncomfortable feeling moved in his chest. That wasn't exactly something he wanted either. He wished he could figure out what it was he _did_ want.

Gaara felt eyes on him and not from Hinata. When he looked up at Kankuro his older brother's gaze flickered away and focused on Hinata. What happened next was something he never would have predicted but he knew what it was. Kankuro was making a move.

Gaara's older brother was a typical male when it came to certain things. He enjoyed good food, women, sex, kabuki, and his puppets and not always in that order. He went out as often as any single male his age did, hanging out at bars or clubs, sometimes picking up a woman, sometimes not. He didn't have girlfriends, claiming them to be too high maintenance. He was very good at making himself sound believable when he wanted to, perhaps because of his love for acting. Normally, he was brash, blunt, somewhat playful, but an overall asshole. Around women he was interested in, he was flirty and borderline charming. Gaara had heard Kankuro 'semi-flirt' with Hinata before, but it had been obvious at the time that he was joking, trying to get a reaction. This was not one of those times.

"So Hinata, when you gonna let me take you out on a date?" Had been Kankuro's starting line.

As usual, Hinata turned a few shades of red, spluttered, then giving him a small smile. "Kankuro-san…"

"C'mon Hina, I'm serious. You've said you don't have a boyfriend, all I'm asking for is one little date."

Temari and Shikamaru tried very hard to pretend they were separate from the conversation. Hinata had glanced at them briefly as if for help, realized she was on her own and her smile became nervous.

"Kankuro-san…Temari-san says that you're never really serious about the girls you go on dates with so…"

"I'd be serious about you." He deadpanned.

The room got deathly quiet. Temari was now staring at Kankuro as if he had grown a second head. Hinata looked as if she wanted to sink into a hole and disappear. Even Shikamaru looked stunned at the proclamation. Gaara just wanted to know what the hell his brother thought he was doing. Kankuro _knew_ he had feelings, whatever those were, for Hinata and yet he was _seriously_ trying to hit on her. In front of him.

There was a nervous shift from Hinata and even though Gaara wasn't looking at her it was obvious that she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. "I…I…."

Shrugging, his brother leaned back in his chair and looked at her. "Seriously Hina, you ever take a look in the mirror? You're hot as hell, a great cook, your personality is cute…girls like you don't come around often. I'd let you make an honest man out of me any day. Besides, you know what they say about the quiet ones…"

"Kankuro."

If it were possible, the room dropped at least thirty degrees in temperature. Gaara's gaze was on his food, had to be, but his quiet voice had been heard as if he had shouted at the top of his lungs. Something very dark shifted through him and his chest felt hot and heavy.

_I am going to kill him. I'm going to…_

"That's _enough_." It was a clear warning from the red head. "It is very obvious your comments are making Hinata-san uncomfortable."

Gaara had never felt a stronger urge to harm his brother than right at that moment. Why was Kankuro doing this? Why now while he was still trying to get his feelings under control from his last encounter? His brother constantly proclaimed himself to be a bastard but did he really have to go to this extent? He had said that he was going to help him, now he was trying to…

_Calm down_. _He is your brother. There is a logical explanation to this. There _better_ be an explanation for this._

Dinner was uncomfortably silent after that. The Kazekage refused to look at anyone, instead focusing on his meal. He _knew_ Kankuro was sending looks his way, he could feel the puppet master smiling in his direction. When he spared glances at Hinata he noticed that she looked absolutely miserable and guilt hit him hard. This was wrong, she wasn't even aware of what was going on, of the silent war about to erupt between the two brothers. All over her.

Dessert had consisted of something sweet that he had passed on. Having anticipated this, she had made something especially for him. It was some sort of dark chocolate dish but it was good, a part of him feeling happy/guilty that she had thought enough about him to make something special.

No one was surprised afterwards when Hinata claimed she was going to go to bed early. Shikamaru offered to pick up the dishes, more than likely because he wanted to avoid the upcoming battle about to erupt, with Temari close behind him. It wasn't until they could no longer sense Hinata's presence in their vicinity that all hell broke loose. Both of the brothers stood and faced each other.

Temari was first, walking out and looking at Kankuro as if she wanted to kill him. "What the hell was that? Was _that_ your idea of 'handling it'?"

He shrugged, Gaara tried to control the urge to react violently.

_I'm better than this. I will not give into these emotions._

"Kankuro," he tried to keep his voice as calm and collected as possible, keeping his body relaxed. The two brothers were staring at each other, Kankuro looking confident and Gaara looking unemotional "Why are you doing this?"

The grin on the puppet master's face disappeared, leaving him with a very serious expression "Doing what?"

"Don't act ignorant."

His big brother shrugged. "Last time I checked, it's been about four months since we had our little 'chat' and she's still single. I figured you weren't interested."

_I'm missing something here but I don't know what and I'm too angry to think this through._

"I never said my feelings had changed." His voice was still low and calm as he forced himself to hold back his overwhelming emotions.

His brother stepped up to him then, easy as Kankuro was an inch or two taller than him. "Hey Gaara, I don't know if you've realized it or not but she's _leaving_ in two months and the chances of you seeing her again are…about zero. If you haven't made your move you're not gonna, so why don't you let someone who _wants_ a shot take it?"

Logically, the Kazekage agreed with his brother. If Kankuro went after Hinata it would be easier to reign in these feelings as she would be unavailable and he would be forced to move on. However, the emotional side of him wanted to tell his brother to screw off. He crossed his arms "She's not like those girls you pick up."

"You're right, she's not," the admission startled Gaara and Kankuro's smirk returned "What? You don't think I'm serious? I'm a simple guy Gaara, I know what I like and if she can give all that to me, I'll take it. She can cook her ass off, she's got a _hot_ body…I'm usually not big on virgins but she can fu-"

Gaara barely heard Temari's cry as he attacked his brother. He wasn't even aware of his surroundings, only that he now had his brother slammed against a wall and a hand around his throat.

"Don't talk about her like that," his eyes narrowed dangerously at his brother, ignoring the solid grip Kankuro had around his neck. "I won't allow it."

His brother's expression was strained but equally angry. "Or what? Sorry, but I stopped being afraid of you a long time ago, bro. What's your problem anyway? You said you got a 'crush' on her, well I got a little bit more than that."

_You're full of shit. _The logical side of him was alarmed at his vicious line of thinking but that side was now completely pushed to a little corner in the back of his mind. "Stop speaking nonsense. You told her you'd let her make an 'honest' man out of you when it's obvious you don't love her."

"And you do?"

_What? _"I-" Gaara paused, eyes widening. His hands dropped to his sides and Kankuro released his hold on his neck. Suddenly he was no longer angry, but confused. "What?" He asked lamely.

"Look bro," Kankuro began, straightening out his clothes "I don't know what it is you got for Hina, but you got it bad. You're getting jealous and acting like a psycho because you're not trying to figure your shit out." They locked gazes "If you don't make a move, someone _will_. Do you think someone like her is going to stay single forever? Hell, I'm surprised she isn't already married and popping out kids from some Konoha idiot."

_I have been trying to figure this out!_ He wanted to shout at him _What do you think I've been doing these past four months?_

Instead of saying anything, Gaara merely stared back at his brother with an unhappy expression. This didn't seem to be the response Kankuro wanted, because he sighed.

"Dude, seriously? Figure your shit out. If you don't figure it out in a month, I'm going in and nothing you say is gonna change my mind."

"You are serious." It wasn't a question and he couldn't deny that he felt very surprised.

"Damn right I'm serious. You're right, I don't love her, but like I said, I'm a simple guy. I'm sure I'd fall for her give or take a few years, who knows? So let's set this straight, you want her or not? It's not like we're not pressed for time or anything."

Calmer now Gaara decided to backtrack mentally, realizing he was being pushed into a corner and didn't have everything in perspective. He thought on Kankuro's words, the word 'jealous' stuck out the most. He had seen and dealt with jealousy, but always from a third party perspective. He knew that it was usually a sign of insecurity in a person, a fear of no longer having what you want. The person who was jealous would act possessive, become angry and suspicious whenever someone else came around that 'threatened' to take that person away. Earlier, he had been angry at Shikamaru because Hinata had been so familiar with him yet she still addressed _him_ honorably. Gaara had been upset because he wanted Hinata to be familiar with him in that manner, he wanted them to have the same type of closeness. Shikamaru…had something he wanted.

_I was jealous._

He had felt betrayed by Hinata because she could act a certain way around someone else but not him. He had felt hurt; what was wrong with him that she couldn't relax or smile like that around him? Why someone else? They were completely irrational feelings. Hinata was distant because he was the Kazekage _and_ he hadn't really opened himself up to her. They shared little outside of work beyond the dinners she made. He had never asked her to spend time with him outside of work after that first time, how would she think they were good friends?

A part of him had avoided her all this time because he hadn't understood – and still did not fully understand - what was going on with him, why he thought about her so much and why he wanted her to be a constant in his life. Part of it was fear; he'd been in control of his emotions for so long and suddenly all of those perfect foundations were crumbling and he could do nothing to prevent it. A threat to his perfect world.

So then, there was now Kankuro's question to face. _He was right, I wasn't trying to figure out my feelings for Hinata, I was trying to avoid them. I already have the answer, I've just been running from it._

"I don't know if I love her," he finally responded, his brows furrowing in thought "but I know I don't want her to be with anyone else but me. I've never felt these sorts of emotions before, but I know I want to be with her. That is how I feel."

It sounded selfish when he said it out loud. As the Kazekage, he had always made it a point to care for everyone equally. There were exceptions, like Baki, Temari, Kankuro and even Matsuri, but beyond that he had wanted to establish bonds of friendship and camaraderie. He loved his family, he loved the villagers, but it wasn't the same, all of those feelings were nothing like the feelings he held for this woman. Because it was so different it had felt like it was something wrong, that _he_ was wrong and needed to fix it. The more he had tried to avoid it, the more agitated he had become until he had reached his breaking point.

"Kankuro, Shikamaru," a figure in the background shifted nervously "I am sorry."

His brother shrugged "Whatever. You're a man now Gaara, do what you gotta do. If you like that girl, do something about it. Me and Temari may not show it, but we do want you to be happy and find someone to love and all that mushy crap."

Shikamaru didn't say anything, not that Gaara had expected him to. The lazy ninja didn't enjoy getting involved in drama, and this qualified. He was probably just happy that he wouldn't be involved any more.

_When I see her again, I will apologize for my behavior and…_

He wasn't sure what he would do after that. Gaara didn't doubt that Kankuro would go after Hinata if he didn't - his brother had been very serious about that - but that didn't mean he automatically knew what to do. The solution _sounded_ simple but it really wasn't. Four months had already passed, would it be possible for him to be able to get Hinata to return his feelings, with only two months left?

One step at a time. First, apologize for his behavior, including almost kissing her. Second, explain why he had almost kissed her. That would be the difficult part.

_Before the sandstorm ends. I'll tell her everything before the sandstorm ends._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

_I want to go home._

It was a feeling that would pop up every now and then, mostly when she was really missing family or friends. For the most part she enjoyed her time in Suna. It wasn't Konoha but it held its own beauty and majesty. The people were kind but tough, they lived in a harsh environment and so they needed to be stronger than the average person. Everyone worked together to ensure the village functioned properly; all of them seemed to truly love and respect their Kazekage.

_Gaara_…

_He_ was the reason she wanted to go home right now, if she were honest with herself. Ever since he had asked her to spend the afternoon with him she had begun to feel funny. Even though she didn't learn a whole lot about his childhood, she had learned a lot about the man he had become and she had found him admirable. Somewhere along the way that admiration had shifted to something else. It had been subtle at first, she had found herself fascinated with observing the emotions he displayed when he actually showed them. When he looked confused he was adorable, when he was thoughtful she found herself wanting to know what was on his mind.

When Gaara came to bring her back to the compound, her heart had done some strange things. Holding his hand had been…she couldn't even describe it. Being held by him had made her feel safe when she had been terrified for their safety. She loved the sound of his heartbeat, calm and steady, never hurried.

_Except for the other day…_

She hadn't felt that miserable in a long time. At first, when he had almost kissed her, she had felt a little light, as if she were floating. Thinking back on it now, she realized that the reason she didn't push him away or resist him was because she had _wanted_ him to kiss her. Even now, remembering his hand on her hip, his lips close to hers, it made her tremble. It was after that where everything had went wrong, where her misery had started.

Temari had said it herself, Gaara didn't get angry. Even though his sister had said it wasn't her fault, Hinata couldn't think of any other reason for Gaara to have gotten as angry as he had. Perhaps he had felt disrespected, or that she wasn't taking his position seriously to simply ignore him in his own office. She couldn't lie to herself, she _had_ been trying to ignore Gaara's presence because thinking about him was the same as thinking of the almost-kiss and she had been too embarrassed to properly deal with it. It was shameful, she wasn't a sixteen year old; she was almost in her mid twenties. Freaking out over a kiss wasn't something a grown woman did. Perhaps he had become angry because in ignoring him, she had rejected him. Not knowing hurt, because she wanted to make things better and didn't know how.

And Kankuro. _What_ had _that_ been about? She wasn't that outstanding when it came to relationships or things like that but with the way he had acted, he might as well have jumped up on the table and beat his chest like an alpha male making his claim. He had flirted with her before, that had not been flirting.

_Has Kankuro-san been serious about dating me all this time?_

Temari had told her the moment he had dropped his first pick up line that he wasn't at all serious. The blonde had told her about how Kankuro had never been in a serious relationship and wasn't looking for one, so to be careful if she decided to get involved. Of course, Hinata didn't want that sort of relationship – not to mention how much it would complicate her working here – otherwise she would have given herself up a long time ago. As an adult, she wasn't waiting for 'Mr. Right', she just wanted it to be with someone she truly cared about with the feeling being mutual.

Once, briefly, she had considered taking Kiba up on his offer to try out a relationship. What ended up stopping her was a few days later, Shino had, in his own way, hinted that he 'liked' her as well. The situation had been different with Shino, he 'liked' her but was perfectly content with their friendship as well. Basically, he had told her if she wanted to take that next step he wouldn't refuse her. Not exactly a declaration of love. It had stopped her from dating Kiba because she realized that it was better if the three of them did remain friends. A romantic relationship would change everything permanently and she hadn't wanted that. Kiba and Shino were her most precious friends, almost family. When she had told Kiba how she felt, he had smiled that wolfish smile and had said "I knew you'd say that." It was never mentioned again and neither had treated her any differently afterwards.

A few suitors had approached her father concerning marrying her, but he had turned them away. Hiashi had told his daughter he wanted her secured as clan leader before he even thought about getting her married off. Running a clan was difficult enough without having the pressures of trying to please a spouse during the early stages of marriage.

"_You're still young,"_ he had said _"and becoming a mother at a later age will be better for you."_

So at twenty three she was still single and yes, she was still a virgin. It wasn't as if she was a physical person to begin with, going around having random sex just wasn't her.

She couldn't get over Kankuro's words. He had been serious, not at all like the playful teasing he'd do just to get her to splutter and blush. And then Gaara. If he had been angry earlier during the meeting, he had been _murderous_ during dinner. Over the past four months, observing his movements and his tone of voice, he had been _furious_ at Kankuro's attempts to 'woo' her and she had known it. It had been the first time she had been frightened of him since childhood.

_I just want to go home…I seem to be causing more harm than good._

Unfortunately, even if she could go home, the sandstorm was still roaring outside with no sign of stopping. Four days had already passed. Temari had warned that sandstorms could last from hours to days to weeks. If this was one of those 'weeks long' sandstorms, she'd have to figure something out because there was no way she'd be able to handle another dinner like that.

After the other night, Hinata had actually locked herself in her room and had yet to come out. Surprisingly, no one had bothered her or knocked on her door to see if she was going to fix food for them. Maybe they understood she just wanted to be alone. She had even cheated, activating her Byakugan quickly to see if anyone was near the kitchen before running to grab a snack and running back to her room.

She was well aware that she was acting like a coward. She didn't care, she wanted to go home. Hinata didn't want to face her feelings for Gaara right now, because thinking about him made her so confused and upset.

_I haven't run away from something since I was a little girl._

Not running away from her problems had been her nindo for a long time and, with the exception of this situation, it still was. She didn't run away, but she also wasn't a confrontational person. She couldn't be like Temari and demand answers; she wasn't that forward. Hinata had always believed in respecting other's views and not pushing her own on people. She also didn't enjoy being backed into a corner, which confrontations tended to do to people. If she didn't like it, how would the other person feel? That's what she always told herself.

Although Gaara and Kankuro were pretty much the reasons why she wanted to go home, she also didn't want to lose their friendships. Gaara had told her he wanted to be her friend; he didn't call people friends easily. She had been so happy at the time, excited that she could be close to all of the siblings. Nothing much had come from it, after that initial afternoon they had spent together things had basically returned to normal. Despite that, Hinata had felt positive about the situation; even if they didn't hang out, the atmosphere between them had been light and friendly.

Instead of running away, she should be thinking of ways to get everyone to make up. That was normally what she did, try to bring people together when things went badly. Kankuro would be easier than Gaara, she had the feeling that Kankuro wasn't nearly as upset as Gaara had been.

_Gaara. Gaara, Gaara, Gaara…_

She needed to stop thinking of him and his almost-kiss. Especially the almost-kiss. Along with the way his voice sounded…deep and husky with a hint of something she couldn't name but had liked. The look he had given her then, as if…

Okay, it was time to leave the room. Obviously sitting in here for two days doing nothing but listening to a sandstorm and her thoughts was driving her crazy. She went and took a shower, which had been refreshing and helped her feel a little better. She pulled on some thin pants and shirt combination she had picked up since coming here and opened the door.

It was dark in the hallways with only a few fire lamps lit, casting shadows. It was actually comforting in a way, but it also let her know just out of sync she was with time. It was already late in the evening, really late judging by the complete silence.

Just as well, she didn't want to run into anyone anyway. She didn't get far, about a few steps forward, before something caught her attention. All of the windows in the compound had been shut from the outside by shutters, so looking outside was impossible. This window's shutters seemed to have blown off, exposing the outside. It was difficult to see, the most she could make out was the sand swirling violently in the darkness. It captivated her anyway, for she found herself leaning on the window ledge, following the swirling sand patterns. Once the eyes adjusted it was easier to see outlines and shapes. Almost mesmerized, she began to pick out specific patterns and naming them. It became a little game, watching the sand to see if it moved in the same manner as the pattern she had named.

More than likely she had been standing there for about twenty to thirty minutes, as she realized she was no longer alone. Moving away from the window she watched as someone rounded the corner. The person who emerged was no other than Gaara himself, sans a shirt and shoes, and he looked rather tired, as if he had just woken up.

Panic filled her and she seriously considered bolting back inside of her room, it was only a few steps away. This was the last person she had wanted to run into. Had he noticed her? He didn't seem to have, so if she took those few precious steps back…

"Hm?" The redhead's gaze shifted to her form and he blinked before yawning slightly. She tried very hard to deny how cute he had looked just then. "Hinata-san?" He definitely sounded confused "Why are you awake? It is almost one in the morning."

_Why are _you _awake? Without a shirt?! Please go put a shirt on!_

Pale lavender eyes had swept over Gaara's appearance before her face heated and she had to turn her gaze away. He was wearing drawstring pants that hung a little low on his hips and nothing else. Even in the low light she could make out his form, the muscles that were normally hidden by clothes.

"W-why a-are you awake, Gaara-sama?" Was what she ended up stammering out, still avoiding looking at him as he slowly closed the distance.

"I am hungry," he sounded more awake now, less disoriented "I'm also usually awake at this time. I ended up taking an…unexpected nap." The pause was from him yawning again.

_That does not look adorable, that does not look adorable…_ "Do-do you usually get food without a s-shirt on?"

Sneaking a glance up at his face – don't look down! – she saw him blink at her again before his brows slightly furrowed in confusion. He looked down at himself and then looked back up at her "This is what I sleep in. I didn't think anyone would be awake." It was said matter-of-factly.

She did not need to know that he slept in nothing but loose drawstring pants. Really. "W-well I sh-should really get back to my room then…since it's so late and all…"

"Actually," he said, sounding slightly rushed "I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time. I haven't seen you around since…the other night and I've wanted to apologize for my behavior."

Now she was confused, frowning slightly. "I was the one who was rude to you during the meeting. I shouldn't have – I shouldn't have ignored you like that. It was inappropriate."

"That was not why I was upset."

-----

The Hyuuga looked up at him, her dark brows shifting down to a confused frown. "It-it wasn't?"

Well, this certainly hadn't been what he had planned concerning setting her aside to talk, but since she had been going out of her way to avoid _everyone_, he really didn't have a lot of options. He knew the reason she was locking herself away was because of him, if he didn't clear the air now it would only continue. He wanted, if nothing else, to at least be her friend. She didn't have to return his feelings, whatever they were.

"No, it was not." Gaara tried to gauge her reaction but she kept switching from looking up at him to looking down at the ground nervously. It was making _him_ nervous, since he was about to put himself on the line emotionally. "My anger was because of my own foolishness and had nothing to do with you. I ended up upsetting and hurting you, I'm sorry for that. That is…that is not what a friend should do to another friend."

Hope and happiness flashed in those milky depths of hers, although her face showed her anxiety "I…you still consider me a friend?"

Her eyes made him feel guilty and sad. This was his fault for his inability to control his feelings. He had hurt her, caused her to believe that she had done something wrong and he didn't want to have anything to do with her. "Yes. I never meant for you to believe I felt differently."

Hinata's gaze dropped as did this little smile that made his stomach flutter. When she looked back up at him she flashed him a bright smile which floored him.

"That makes me…really happy." She hugged herself, leaning against the wall as if for support. Even with the lack of light he could see how her face had lit up and her eyes had shined at him. Words tried to emerge from his throat yet his mouth could not move. All he could do was stare at her.

He couldn't do this. Talking to her alone had seemed a lot safer in his mind, in his mind he hadn't wanted to pull her toward him and kiss her. In his mind, she hadn't looked at him quite like that, as if he had just handed her the world. What he needed to do was excuse himself and try to finish telling her everything later. That was after he collected himself and after she put on some clothes that didn't show off every curve on her body. Normally she covered herself from head to toe, right now she was wearing some sort of thin ensemble which clung to her in ways her other clothes didn't.

_She really should stop wearing those other clothes if they're hiding…_

Well, maybe she should wear them, because if he noticed others would notice and he was still coming to terms with the fact that he was a very jealous man when it came to this petite woman.

_She should really stop wearing those other clothes around _me_._

There. Much better. Wait, what?

"I'm…glad," he said rather lamely. "I should also apologize for…the other incident that happened between us. A person of my position shouldn't take advantage of others. I am not…normally that forward."

At first she looked as if she didn't know what he was talking about. When it finally sunk in her eyes widened just a bit and he could somewhat see her flushed face. Her hands had risen for a moment as if she were going to poke her fingers together before they dropped abruptly.

"I…um, you don't…you don't have to apologize for that." She bit her lip "I-you weren't taking advantage of me. I mean, I could have said no." Her gaze shifted to the side and down, voice low.

Gaara didn't say anything because he didn't really have anything to say. What did she mean by that? Did that mean that because she didn't say 'no' that she would have let him kiss her? That she wouldn't have minded? Did she still feel that way? What if he walked up and…

Without even thinking, he took a step towards her.

------

Oh dear gods, what was she doing, admitting to something like that? Well, it wasn't like she could let him believe that he had taken advantage of her, she _could _have said no and pushed him away. It wasn't like she wasn't a skilled shinobi or anything and she was big enough to admit that she had wanted that kiss.

What was currently unnerving her was the silence afterwards. She could feel his gaze on her but he said nothing to her – basically – confession. Had she said something wrong? It didn't feel as if he were angry, that was definitely something she would have noticed. She knew she should look up, she'd be able to get an idea of what he was thinking if she did, but she was too embarrassed.

Hinata was happy, Gaara hadn't been angry at her after all and he considered her a friend, but that almost-kiss was a more sensitive subject. He could just act as if it had never happened and they would go back to the way things were. It was very possible that perhaps the entire thing had been a misunderstanding of emotions. She wasn't a pessimist, but when it came to her love life, she didn't exactly see the glass as being half full either. Heck, she didn't even know if she _wanted_ to consider Gaara as part of her 'love life', that was just too confusing in and of itself.

He finally took a step toward her and her eyes slid up, hoping that he would say something. Like before in his office their gazes locked and her breath caught. It was there again, that _look_ in his eyes. In the low light with shadows flickering on his body he looked…_wow_.

Another step and he was there, right in front of her. Slowly his hand raised, fingertips brushing against her cheek and running down along her jaw. Trailing back up, he cupped her cheek and tilted her head up just a bit. Her hand was shaky as it moved up his chest, resting right above his heart. Like before, it wasn't steady or calm but wild and strong. His skin felt warm to the touch, something flickered in his eyes.

He was going to kiss her, right here, right now. She could see it, the desire there. This time, there weren't any time constraints; no one would be coming to interrupt them. If she wanted to push him away and put a stop to whatever was about to happen, she would have to do it now. The sensation was there in her chest; if he kissed her their relationship would change. If he kissed her something was going to happen; she needed to make a decision.

"Hinata."

A soft sigh escaped her lips when he murmured her name. Deep, silky, husky. She never imagined that her name could ever sound so appealing but this man had proven her wrong. A shiver moved down her spine at the sound of his voice, the intensity of his gaze. She felt the warmth of his hand on her lower back and up. She made a little noise.

His eyes narrowed in response but not in anger. He dipped his head and the hand on her back pushed her further against him although her body was already practically flush with his. The entire time their eyes remained focused on one another, she wouldn't have been able to look away if she had wanted to.

"If you don't push me away," his voice was softer now, a whisper "I will kiss you."

"Okay." Inwardly, her lack of hesitation was a bit surprising. If he kissed her, if she allowed him to kiss her things would become different, complicated. Hinata found herself unable to care when he tilted his head and she closed her eyes.

The hard passionate kiss she had been expecting didn't come. Instead, there was the softest brushing of their lips, a chaste kiss, and then he pulled away enough to look at her. Hinata wasn't sure what he was looking for, but when he dipped his head again, her hand slid from his chest to around his neck, her fingers delving into his thick hair.

Gaara made a sound low in his throat, but the second kiss was only slightly firmer than the first. The third kiss she actually pulled his head down, earning her a surprised gasp. What followed after that was a series of kisses, each one firmer than the last. With each kiss he seemed to grow more confident, his arm tightening around her, his fingers moving through her hair.

It was her that deepened the kiss, her tongue trailing over his lips until his mouth parted. He stiffened, as if surprised by her boldness which turned into another low noise as she began to explore his mouth with her tongue. She felt her back hit the stone wall then, Gaara returning her kiss with equal ferocity. There was only a brief parting before his lips slanted over hers again, giving her the passionate kiss she had expected from the beginning. Tongues kneaded, teeth scraped in a kiss that left her breathless. When his lips left hers he began trailing kisses down her jaw and to her neck. A soft moan escaped her when she felt his warm hand slide underneath her shirt and move along her side. A hand trailed up his back, he shivered. When his tongue trailed along her neck _she_ shivered, arching her back to press curves against hard muscle. She heard her name being whispered against her skin.

He kissed her again, fingertips brushing up along her skin, hitching her shirt up. He bit her neck, she cried out softly in pleasure. When his tongue replaced the slight sting she felt something hard against her thigh. Caught up in the moment, she rocked her hips and heat pooled from her stomach and lower when he moaned and called her name softly. Their breathing was irregular, ragged and she felt as if she were drunk with desire and pleasure. Feeling his hands on her skin, his lips, it felt incredible to her. _More_. Her mind whispered. More of his hands, his lips, even his teeth as they lightly sank into her neck, followed by his tongue. She found herself wanting it all and more.

Once again it was Gaara who stopped, his hand just underneath her breast, his breath heavy as he rested his forehead against hers. Hinata's eyes were half lidded, she was panting. Her tongue moved over her lips from their kissing and he growled. When she moved her hips again he closed his eyes briefly.

"I should leave." He whispered.

With the way she was feeling at the moment, his statement left her confused. "Why?"

"Gods, don't ask me that Hinata." It was a soft plea; his voice sounding strained.

She liked the way he said her name. She liked how he sounded so out of control and breathless. Even his facial features reflected his passion and desire for her.

_I'm doing this, I'm making him like this. No one else._

It was exhilarating, knowing that she, and only she, could make a perfectly stoic man like Gaara growl and moan and whisper her name. Logically, she knew that he was probably right, that he _should_ leave, but she didn't want him to. The moment he had said her name and when his hands moved along her body she had begun to ache _for him_. When he had kissed her, oh-so-gently, she hadn't wanted him to stop. Hinata wanted him to hold her and kiss her and…she just wanted him.

"I…I don't want you to leave."

Gaara closed his eyes then, as if cherishing her words. "I won't be able to stop myself if I don't leave. This is…too fast."

He was right. Most people took things much slower than what they were doing right now. Under normal circumstances, had she been younger, she would have fainted and felt horrified at their behavior. As an adult, she did feel a little lightheaded, but she was sure it was from his kisses and the way he felt against her than anything else.

"Gaara…" her hand slid up his back, her own voice a silent plea.

He let out a small breath. She felt his resolve weaken, his eyes looking at her hungrily. Something shifted in his expression, as if he had regained his senses, and he tried again. "You…you would regret this in the morning."

"No." She was sure of that. She might not have a solid grasp on all of her feelings concerning him, but she was very sure that she wanted him and had been ever since he had first tried to kiss her.

When he kissed her again, she thought that he had given in. Her heart skipped in nervousness and anticipation, understanding the decision she had just made and how everything would change dramatically from this point on.

But then he parted from her, his breathing a little ragged. "Goodnight, Hinata." It was a whisper against her lips and then he raised his hand in a familiar hand seal, disappearing.

----

That had been the most difficult thing he had ever done in his twenty three years of living and he wasn't entirely sure if he was an idiot for it or not. The fact that Hinata had _wanted_ him to stay had almost killed his resolve to do what he had thought was the right thing. At the moment a certain appendage did _not_ agree with his decision and was quite unhappy with him. Half of him cared, the other half didn't. He was Gaara, a man who had trained himself in self-control and self-discipline. He was damned good at it and he wasn't about to stop now. Spending the night with Hinata, however pleasurable it would have been, wasn't the way he wanted to start their relationship. He knew now whatever this feeling was, she definitely returned it. He had set the record straight with her and now they were in a position where they would need to make some serious decisions.

Neither of them were the type to go for flings, he was sure of that. Hinata was leaving in two months, perhaps a little later depending on how long the storm lasted. They were both adults, they both desired each other. For him, however, it wasn't just the physical. He wanted to be with her, he wanted to spend time exclusively with her, he wanted to know everything about her. Gaara had no idea what he'd do when she left, _not_ having her in his life now seemed wrong somehow.

Would he have to go to her clan? How far did he want to take this relationship?

_As far as it will go._

He wasn't sure if this feeling in his chest was love or not, but he couldn't see himself with anyone else. Hinata had been the first person he had _ever_ held romantic feelings for; she would probably be the last. For him, there was no one else, just her. If it wasn't love, it was something very close to it.

_What do I do?_

He could ask her to stay. It would be a selfish thing to ask of her, because it would make her life incredibly complicated. For her to stay here permanently she would have to quit being a Konoha shinobi. If he did not offer marriage, her clan would disown her or flat out deny her request and keep her there. In short, she would have to give up her life and everything she had ever known.

He could step down as Kazekage. He had been Kazekage for over eleven years now; there were definitely people strong enough and capable enough to take over.

_Hinata will never let me do that._

Hinata was the sort of person who would sacrifice everything she was for others, because she was just that selfless. If he asked her to stay and she agreed, she would abandon everything and do it. He didn't want that for her, she would definitely regret it later.

_You should have thought about this before making out with her._

Lying on his bed in the darkness of his room, he placed an arm over his eyes and sighed.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Just as a reminder, the next chapter (8) is one that can be skipped if you don't particularly enjoy lemons. You won't miss any major plot if you do. I'm really surprised at how many people seem to enjoy this story; thank you all, a lot of your reviews have been very uplifting. Over the past week or so I had been feeling very…unhappy with myself as a writer and it helped shake me out of my funk. There's only 6 more chapters to go! Hopefully I'll have another fic completed by then.

Chapter Seven

Something was going on, Temari could feel it. A few times she had tried to talk to Shikamaru about it, who would normally just roll over in their bed and groan 'It's their business, let them handle it' before falling back asleep. Next time she'd bug him about it while outside the bedroom. Bastard.

She wasn't exactly sure what it was, except that the atmosphere had changed drastically between Gaara and Hinata. Maybe Kankuro's 'method' had worked, for the two definitely seemed closer than before. It was strange in the sense that even though they were closer they seemed to still have some sort of wall between them. Whenever she asked Gaara about it, his gaze would become distant and thoughtful but his mouth would clamp shut and he would say nothing. Asking Hinata would be a dead end; the girl would just splutter about and then eventually find some way to excuse herself.

They stared at each other constantly; they weren't even discreet about it anymore. During dinners they were quiet not because it was in their nature but because they were too busy giving each other doe eyed looks to be bothered with anyone else.

Thing was, Temari was positive those two _weren't_ sleeping together. In fact, it seemed that the longer things went on the tenser and _intense_ they became. Outside of his office or the dinner table they were avoiding each other, which didn't make sense to her at all. Or no, it wasn't that they weren't avoiding each other, it was _Gaara_ specifically avoiding being too close to Hinata.

When Temari was around her brother he was constantly drifting in an out of whatever she was saying unless it had something to do with Hinata. Kankuro had shrugged it off and had been very noncommittal about it, basically telling her the same thing Shikamaru was saying: "Leave it alone".

She couldn't help it, she was worried about her baby brother. Gaara wasn't like other people, would never be like other people. In a lot of ways he was one of the most powerful people she knew. In a lot of ways, especially emotionally, her brother was vulnerable than most. It wasn't that she didn't trust Hinata, she just didn't want her brother hurt. He had recovered from a lot of heartache and abuse but Temari had a sinking feeling that something like this…would crush him if it went sour. She didn't want that for him, he deserved happiness.

_I'll stay out of it for now. Be careful little brother, don't give away too much of your heart too fast._

------

Gaara approved of Hinata's request to extend her stay in Suna by three weeks, which had been the length of the sandstorm, save a few quiet moments here and there. It would be sent to Konoha and Naruto would have to sign off on it before it became official.

The day the sandstorm finally lifted Gaara's workload had gone from zero to quadruple. The stacks of papers had piled ridiculously high and many of the more important documents had needed responses like, weeks ago. Thankfully, Baki and Temari arrived to help and the staff he had assigned to designate missions had decided to take his load, since he had done theirs during the sandstorm – they were still not happy with him about that.

Diplomats from all over who had waited out the sandstorm to speak to him arrived in droves. There simply weren't enough hours in the day to address all of them so he had decided to put up the more important guests in a hotel and address the messengers and other village representatives' issues first. There were almost hundreds of messages that had come in that needed his immediate review, his aide was constantly in and out of his office trying to keep up with the traffic. It took him three days to get his office in some semblance of order after the initial rush. The monthly council meeting had been cancelled until he could get a grip on all of the important matters.

He had been so busy he had absolutely no time to even attempt to try and see Hinata. Their relationship was somewhat strange. They hadn't really talked about that night again but it was almost as if there was some sort of wordless agreement there between them. Gaara hadn't tried to kiss her again, although he had wanted to constantly on so many occasions. Every time he thought about that night, those kisses and touches, his body reacted almost painfully. Meditating hadn't helped, 'taking care of it' hadn't helped and he was really starting to wonder why the hell he was refusing to sleep with her when it was obvious she wouldn't turn him away. The few times in the kitchen they had spoken briefly he had seen it then, that same look she had given him that night, the one he was sure he gave her constantly as well. There had been the almost slip up in the hall one day when they had come across each other and it had taken every ounce of self control he had not to push her against the wall again and…

_You're distracted. Again._

He looked down at the document he had been holding for…the past ten minutes judging by the clock. This was beginning to become the norm for him, this distraction. He would be focusing on his work or someone would be talking to him and his thoughts would fill of her and nothing else seemed to matter. Temari had become irritated with him a few times when it had been obvious he had stopped listening to her. It certainly wasn't intentional; not thinking about Hinata seemed impossible, even with how busy he currently was.

His main reason for not caving into his desires was that he didn't want their relationship to be just about sex, which he was sure would happen the moment they did become intimate. It was difficult enough trying to control his urges now; he'd probably completely lose it if he gave in. He'd heard enough stories about men who would become addicted to sex; how destructive it could be. He wasn't exactly a poster child for stability right now.

Another reason was that he wasn't sure what he wanted to do concerning where things were going and sex would just complicate that. He had gone over the scenario numerous times in his head and none of the solutions looked good. Hinata couldn't be a Konoha shinobi _and_ stay with him and she'd refuse to allow him to step down from his position – although he thought that would probably be the easier solution to the problem. Until he could figure something out that didn't involve one of them being miserable he was going to keep his distance and not make things any worse than he already had.

_But gods she had felt good moving underneath me. If we had been on a bed and she had moved her hips like that…_

He resisted the urge to connect his head to his desk. This was impossible. He wasn't going to get anything done if this kept up. Things were much simpler when he could think straight and his hormones weren't acting completely out of control. He didn't even feel like himself anymore, he felt more like some of the horny teenagers he had seen growing up. He hadn't understood it then but he _definitely_ understood it now. There was no 'controlling it' or 'not thinking about it', he was pretty much just along for the ride at this point. He _could not_ help the way he thought and it was beginning to drive him a little insane. Not even work was properly distracting him, because he was sure another ten minutes had passed and he was still holding the same paper he had been holding ten minutes prior.

Gaara decided to set a goal for himself. If he did that, perhaps he could focus on doing what he needed to do to complete it. He decided his goal for today would be to get enough work done so he could go and visit Hinata at the greenhouse tonight. Thankfully, that had actually seemed to do the trick for he found it easier to concentrate when completion meant he could be with the object of his affections. And fantasies.

------

Hinata, on the other hand, was very confused about their relationship because of the way Gaara was acting. She understood that there was something there between them, but beyond that nothing. Gaara tried very hard to avoid situations where they would be completely alone together although he had become a more pleasant conversationalist. If it weren't for those heated looks he gave her every now and then, and the time when they had run into each other in the hall and he had started to touch her – before realizing what he was doing and walking briskly away – she would have thought he wasn't interested in her anymore.

It wasn't just that though, she wanted to spend time with him and his avoidance of her made that very difficult. A few times she had thought of maybe asking him if he would take another personal day and they could go somewhere, like a real date, but they always became distracted with one another and she'd forget to ask. She was happy that he obviously liked her and seemed to want to be around her, but she was confused as to why he was going to such lengths to avoid her. Was he really that afraid that she would regret it if they slept together? Perhaps this was his way of trying to take things slow instead of jumping head first into things.

He had said that night that things had been going too fast. She had agreed then and she still did, but her decision hadn't changed. Hinata wouldn't have regretted being with him, if anything it would have made her happier. She hadn't felt like this since Naruto and even that was different. Hinata felt that it was probably because she had fallen in love with Naruto as a child and Gaara as an adult and the two feelings were definitely separate from each other.

With Naruto, her love had been an innocent one. She had wanted to be with him, but it had always been in a companionship-sort of way. Sex had been the farthest thing from her mind. Not that she had stopped loving Naruto, a first love always remained in the heart, it was just this feeling for Gaara was much more intense and passionate. Love was a strong word but for Hinata, she didn't just fall for anyone and she understood that. Her feelings for Naruto had been those of love, her feelings for Gaara were similar to her feelings for Naruto, but on a more adult level. In short, she understood that she was probably in love with him or something close to it otherwise she wouldn't have wanted to sleep with him. Hinata wasn't going to tell him this just yet, because based on what little she knew of his past, a declaration of that magnitude could possibly scare him away. He was avoiding her enough as it was.

When the sandstorm lifted she went right back to work and that had helped distract her from her relationship problem. Kaede and the others had been pleased that she would be around to make up for the lost time. There were plant records that they were going to be behind on and be unable to make it up since going back in time to record was impossible. Another shipment from Konoha had been waiting for them which they were slowly integrating. Tsunade had sent her a scathing letter about how she hadn't received any books in the past few weeks, only to have sent another one apologizing for the fact that her Hokage was an idiot and hadn't informed her of her subordinate being stuck in a sand storm. The rest of the team had ended up jumping to catch up on the bookwork while Hinata taught Kaede the lessons to be passed down at a later date.

Pretty much, everyone was playing catch-up.

The Hyuuga knew her problems were nothing in comparison to the Kazekage's. The first day she had tried to go and give her report it had been so busy and full of people that when she had asked the aide to reschedule he had readily agreed. The second day hadn't been any better, so Hinata decided she would either just wait a week and then give them the reports in one lump or see if he'd call for her when he could squeeze her in.

"Relationship troubles?"

Startled, Hinata turned to face Kaede, the older woman giving her a soft smile. They were in the greenhouse, studying the plants and testing out a few jutsus. Kaede was in her late thirties with brown hair and eyes. She had a face that looked young yet older at the same time. Her eyebrows were an unusual shape as they arched at the top and were a little thick but it took away none of her beauty. She wore the standard medical uniform with an arm patch that showed her position. Over the past few months Hinata had come to really like and respect Kaede, the woman was a wealth of wisdom. One interesting thing she had found out was that Kaede had at one point been considered a missing nin, she had ran away from home to Iwa to chase someone she had fallen in love with. She returned years later and it had been Gaara who had not only pardoned her but allowed her to get back into the medical field and work herself up to the position she currently held.

Kaede was also very sharp when it came to certain things.

"Ah…um…is it really that obvious?" Hinata smiled nervously and Kaede laughed.

"Well, it wouldn't have been if it wasn't for the fact that you've been sighing every five minutes for the past three hours. The sad but dreamy look in your eyes was also another indication."

Embarrassment crept up and she could feel her ears burning "I-I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so unfocused."

The other woman waved it off "It happens to the best of us Hina-chan. I'm not at all offended, even though you've ignored me at least ten different times." Her grin widened when Hinata began to splutter out apologies "I'm _kidding_ sweetie, well not really but I don't really mind, I don't. I won't ask what's going on, but if you want to talk to me, I'm here. I'd like for you to think of me as a friend, if that's alright."

"I…" Hinata was at a loss for words. Kaede was a woman she respected, her wanting to be friends was... "I'd really love that Kaede-san. Um, as for my relationship problem…"

Maybe it was because Kaede had given her the choice of telling her, or maybe it was because this woman saw her as a friend, but Hinata told her the situation, minus the night she had almost shared with Gaara. They had worked while she talked; Kaede's expression serious and thoughtful.

"Your situation is complicated," was the older woman's eventual statement "you two are from completely different villages, not only that but he's the Kazekage and you're the heiress of a major clan in your village." Her normally cheerful face faded into one of sadness "He might be withdrawing because he knows that once you're done here you probably won't be seeing each other again. Cross village relationships are…difficult." A wan smile "Take it from personal experience."

"But-" Hinata's eyes widened when she realized Kaede was right. Sure, Shikamaru and Temari were 'dating', everyone knew about it, but it was a strained relationship. Constantly on and off again due to their distance and both parties' refusal to give up their positions to be with one another. Shikamaru wouldn't leave Konoha because he had made a promise to Asuma and he was going to stick by Kurenai and her child, probably until Kurenai found someone, or rather if she found someone. Temari was the Kazekage's sister, the daughter of the previous Kazekage, a jounin, ambassador, and a powerful political presence in the village. There was unfortunately no middle ground for them, someone had to sacrifice.

Was that what he was thinking of when he told her she'd regret it?

"I…I don't want him to feel that way," she said sadly "I-I think it could work if…well if he wanted it to."

"Long distance relationships aren't easy, Hina-chan. Not only that, if the two of you become serious, what will you do if you want to go further with the relationship? With such heavy things weighing down, I'm sure that's what's making the Kazekage hesitate," another smile, although this one was a bit more genuine "but there is one thing I know about him, and it's that he doesn't give up. If he is serious about you, he will work hard to make it a reality. So, if you think it can work and he thinks it can work, it will work."

That made her feel a lot better. "Thank you Kaede-san. That really helped," She took a breath and let it out "Maybe if we can get some time together we can try and work it out." The thought that Gaara wouldn't want an actual relationship never crossed her mind. They shared the same looks, they were similar when it came to wanting to be involved with others. She wasn't entirely sure what Gaara would eventually decide, or what exactly she wanted to do, but she hoped that Kaede was right and that he wouldn't decide to eventually give up. Hinata wasn't sure she would be able to take it if once again she could not be with the person she cared about the most.

-----

It was late by the time Gaara could tear away from his work, missing out on dinner. He had eaten the plate Hinata had saved for him and when he didn't find her in her room he knew that she probably was still at the greenhouse. It was a bit later than he had planned, but he really wanted to see her.

He didn't knock this time since last time he had she hadn't reacted too well. He didn't immediately see her, which could mean that she was in the back, possibly doing reports or napping.

Suspicions confirmed when he turned the corner to find her at her desk, concentrating on her work. He leaned against the doorframe for a moment, watching her warmly. Sensing his presence, her gaze lifted and connected to his. Her face lit up when she realized it was him, making his heart skip a bit.

_I'm the one she reacts like this with, me and no one else_.

"Hello," her eyes danced with happiness and a deeper emotion he couldn't put a name to. "This is an unexpected surprise."

"I wanted to see you," he admitted right off, never taking his gaze from her face. He watched with light amusement as her pale cheeks filled with color, her eyes shifting away from him in embarrassment before meeting his gaze again. "These past few days have been extremely busy."

Hinata sighed in agreement "I'm almost caught up with a lot of the work but we have to devote a lot of time to catching up on the book copying. There are still a lot of books and I won't be here too much longer."

At mention of that they both went silent and the air became tense. She was the first to speak up.

"Gaara-kun? Do you….can I ask you a question?"

The way she had said his name – without the 'sama' gave him pause "What did you call me?"

Worry filled her. "I'm sorry. You don't like me calling you that? I thought maybe…"

"No, I don't mind it. I like it when you're not so formal with me." He said sincerely.

A small pause and then she looked away for a moment, shy. " Um, well I don't think I could be formal with you any more with, um, what's happened."

He ignored the heat and tightness in his chest. "…I suppose not. What did you want to ask me?"

Her expression shifted to a mixture of sadness and worry causing him to feel uncomfortable. "It's about that, actually. I mean, about us." When he didn't respond she took that as her sign to continue "I um, I know we don't really talk about what happened but…I just want to know where I stand with you, I guess."

Confusion crossed his features "Where you stand?" He wasn't quite sure what that meant.

"I-" her gaze shifted to her desk and she bit her bottom lip. "I mean, what am I to you? A-are we a couple or…we've never talked about it and I wanted to know how you felt. Sometimes I don't always know what to do or how to act around you because I'm not sure if…I mean…"

"You are someone precious to me," he paused to see her reaction. She looked up at him and he could see so many different emotions in those pale eyes making him want to reach out to her. "For a long time I have wanted to mean something to someone. My people needed me, and for a long while I was content with that. My family needed me, and it seemed to be enough. It is not that I no longer want those things, it's that I feel like I now understand what it was I really wanted." This was difficult for him to explain and he ended up having to pause to try and word himself properly "When I am with you I feel needed, but it is more than that. I feel as if I need you, but it doesn't feel like a weakness or that I'm flawed. I have never felt like this, so I have nothing to compare it to, but my feelings toward you are strong. As for what we are…I am not sure of that myself. It's not as simple as claiming to be 'boyfriend and girlfriend' and going from there."

The two of them stared at each other for a long time after that and it felt to him as if they were somehow communicating their feelings without even having to speak. He could tell that she returned his feelings; he could see the way her eyes shined and warmed for him.

What she asked him, however, caught him off guard "What do you want to do about it?" there was determination and conviction in her tone.

He paused, thinking of what he could say and decided to go with what he felt he should say "I don't know. Even my sister and Nara…"

"Please don't compare us to them," she said softly but firmly, effectively cutting him off. "Shikamaru-kun and Temari-san are my friends but…their relationship is so rocky because neither one of them will sacrifice to be with the other. They each believe their individual lives are too important to compromise."

A small frown. "That is understandable, why should one have to sacrifice and become miserable while the other gives up nothing? It feels selfish…wrong."

"What?" Her look was incredulous "Gaara-kun, if you truly want to be with someone, is it really a sacrifice if you can be together?"

Her reaction made him feel uncertain. "It…it would be better if no one had to sacrifice anything at all."

"But that's…it's unrealistic." Hinata looked down, a pained expression on her beautiful features "I really feel that the way things are turning out isn't chance. Gaara-kun I want…what I want most right now is to be with you. There…there is no sacrifice too great, I think, to pursue that."

He had nothing to say to that. Somehow, he should have known she would say something like this. This was part of her nature, her desire to put others before herself. Even in wanting to be with him, she would sacrifice so that he wouldn't have to.

"T-those are my honest feelings." She continued "I hope you understand."

"I feel the same," his gaze narrowed "To be with you, I would give up my position as Kazekage."

He wanted to see her reaction, it was the only reason he had said it. She acted exactly as he predicted she would when her expression melted into nothing short of shocked and horrified.

"B-but your people…they need you!"

He gave her a slight nod. "Hn. But you have your own clan you are to lead, correct?"

Her mouth snapped closed. She opened her mouth as if to speak again, thought better of it and instead sat back in her chair, a look of sadness and pain in her eyes. Once again silence filled the room, Gaara waiting for what she would say. Was this to be it? Was this conversation to be the deciding factor of whether or not they would be together? He didn't want it to end up like Temari and Shikamaru's relationship, the past few days of not seeing her had been painful, going months at a time would undo him. Either he followed her or she followed him; that was the only solution he could think of.

When Hinata looked at him again he knew right then she had made a decision.

"I want to be with you," she said, her eyes shining, but this time from unshed tears.

"Hinata-"

"_Please_."

Was this the way it really had to be? The pain in her eyes tore at him, leaving him feeling raw and miserable. Shouldn't caring for someone and wanting to be with someone bring happiness? Right now he felt pain, misery, and guilt.

_I could just let her go. That's why…that's why I've been holding back isn't it? So it could be easier for me to say goodbye and move on._

He could. He could tell her that he changed his mind and that she should just go back home and they should just forget all of this. She would be able to stay with her family and friends and continue to live her life. He would continue on as he had before, he was used to being single. Eventually, the pain would fade until it became a dull ache, but it would eventually fade.

Hinata made a small, soft noise. "Don't. Please don't."

She was crying, drops falling like crystals from her pale face. How had she become so good at reading him? Perhaps it was the same way he was reading her, how he had known her reactions and what her final decision would be. There were many things that Gaara had dealt with in his life; it had been a very long time since he had felt as if his heart was being ripped from his chest. He almost raised his hand to his heart as he had the day when Yashamaru had tried to kill him. He felt the same, but it was for a different reason. This time it was from pain he was causing someone else and looking at her like that was unbearable.

Her watery plea held old pain and even fear to it. It reflected in her eyes so intensely and deeply that it floored him. All of a sudden Naruto's story of the girl who had loved him came to his mind. The girl who had loved him when no one else had, even with the demon inside of him. In the end, however, Naruto hadn't returned her love because he had won the affections of his long time crush, Haruno.

The Kazekage had wondered not too long ago if she had been that girl. Now he was almost positive. The fear was an old one, an experience already lived, the scars still there. She was afraid of rejection, of him turning away her feelings. That was why the sacrifice didn't feel like a sacrifice to her, being without him, once again being without the man she loved, was worse.

_What do I do? _"Hinata-"

"Please, I can't…I just can't." She buried her face in her hands, her slender shoulders shaking. "I don't…I don't want to give up…"

"Hinata," he repeated, standing straight "Hinata, come here."

She didn't immediately react. She did wipe at her face, blinking up at him, but the tears kept falling. He could see the fear still in her eyes, yet also the hope, deep down, at his words.

Gaara lifted his arm, opening his hand "Come here."

Slowly, she rose from the chair and took tentative steps toward him. He continued to hold his hand out to her, a small smile playing on his features. Nervously, her hand reached out and rested in his. His hand closed over hers, stopping her shaking, and he pulled her into an embrace. He held her like that for a long time, his cheek resting on the top of her head. She cried more and he let her. Some of those tears were from an old wound that he was personally responsible for ripping back open with his callousness. A part of him had underestimated her feelings; he knew she cared for him, but this went beyond that. Hinata was in love with him and the thought of that made him feel many things. Suddenly, he was reminded of what Naruto had said about the feeling, that it had been 'amazing'. He understood it now.

"I will not leave you," he whispered into her hair, decision made "We will make this work, and we will be together."

Tonight, he would show her. He was not good with words, not when it came to this, but he could show her thorough actions and feelings. Hinata wasn't holding back with him, it was time that he did the same.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Her heart caught in her throat. She couldn't have heard him right.

"_Stay with me tonight Hinata._"

Just a moment ago she had been overwhelmed with grief. For a moment she had seen it, the distant look in his eyes and the feeling of complete withdrawal. Just a moment ago she thought she was really going to lose Gaara; that he was going to reject her.

It had hit her then, realizing that the man she loved wouldn't choose her once again. She should have been able to handle it; she had handled it well enough with Naruto. Of course, the difference was that she had given herself two years to deal with the fact that he would very well reject her because he loved Sakura. She had told herself then that confessing wasn't because she wanted to be with him, it had been that final step she had never taken. That fear which had consumed her since the beginning, it had been the one thing she had kept running from. When he had smiled sadly at her, she had been prepared. It had hurt, it had taken her a long time to get over it, but she had handled it. She should have been able to handle Gaara's rejection, but she couldn't. At that point, she hadn't cared about what she needed to do; she did not want to experience that pain again. The result ended in her panicking and breaking down in front of him like a silly child.

"_Come here."_

His voice had sounded so warm. She had looked at him and there was understanding and a bit of sadness in his eyes. He had reached out his hand to her and smiled.

"_I will not leave you._"

The tears had come back in full force then, tears of relief. He wasn't going to give up on her, on them. She wasn't going to lose him. She would get to keep someone precious to her. Hinata had ended up crying for a good long time, clinging to him while he held her tightly in his arms. Eventually she had been able to calm herself down, to a point where her sobs had become hiccups and sniffles. Her head was beginning to hurt from all the crying she had done but she hadn't cared. He had promised that they would make things work and that was all she had wanted the moment he said he wanted to be with her.

He had waited until she had completely stopped crying to gently pull her from his chest. She looked up at him and the look he had on his face was something she hadn't seen before. He looked confident, as if he had come to terms with something. Gaara made sure he had her full attention when he spoke next.

"_Stay with me tonight Hinata._"

She was completely floored. Hinata knew what he was asking; she just didn't understand what had suddenly changed his mind.

"Gaara-ku…"

His lips moved over hers, silencing whatever question she had been about to ask. He pulled her back against his body before parting from her. She could feel his lips near her ear.

"Stay with me tonight," he repeated "we will not do anything if you don't wish it, but I want you with me."

Her breath came out shaky "But…I thought you…"

She felt his arms tighten around her. "I held back because…I was afraid. If things hadn't worked out, I was afraid being with you and then you leaving would have been harder for me. I am tired of being afraid."

"A-are you sure? You don't…have to do this…"

"Hinata," his voice sounded different this time, deeper "I will not ask again."

"Gaara…I love you." She suddenly blurted out, surprised at her reaction. Why did she say that?

He pulled back to look at her. His eyes widened just a fraction, as if surprised and then he smiled.

"I know."

"Then you should know I don't want to be anywhere else tonight but with you."

Another one of those looks crossed his face. Not the heated gaze, although he was doing that as well, but a different one, as if she were the greatest treasure in the world and every word she spoke affected him in a deep and passionate way. It was breathtaking and it also made her think that maybe, quite possibly, he was in love with her as well.

His room was smaller than she thought it would be when they finally arrived. Getting back to the compound undetected had been easy, it was late at night and mostly everyone was either asleep or, in Kankuro's case, out partying.

Gaara's room, surprisingly, wasn't that much larger than hers and was about as barren. His dresser held photos, many of them being of his siblings, but beyond that there wasn't much that separated his room from that of her guest room. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised; it wasn't as if he were a materialistic person.

His bed was larger than hers, a king to her full. With his height, he probably needed the extra space, but looking at his bed now made her think of the reason they were here to begin with, not of sleep. He turned on a lamp at his bedside, bathing the room in a soft light. Anxiety began to crawl up like icy fingers along her spine. It almost felt surreal that she was standing here in _Gaara's_ room with him in it at night with the lingering knowledge that something intimate could – and more than likely would -happen. If someone had told her four months ago that she would be standing in this very spot, she would have blushed profusely but definitely wouldn't have believed it.

After a moment of silence Hinata turned to face him. His face was blank but his eyes were on her. Whenever he did that, simply stared at her, she wondered what he was thinking. It felt as if his gaze was burning through her, reading her innermost thoughts and feelings. He remained silent but didn't approach her and after a long moment her brows began to drift down in confusion. Why was he just standing there?

"You are nervous," he finally said, as if reading her thoughts. This time he did move, closing the distance between them. He raised a hand, brushing his knuckles along the side of her face. "You've been trembling for the past few minutes."

"W-well that's e-easy for you to say," she began, feeling a little huffy "I've never…done something like this before."

He blinked "I have not either."

She couldn't even hide her surprise "R-really?"

Gaara actually _looked_ offended. "I am not a sexual deviant and I'm certainly not like my brother." He sounded rather put out.

Hinata burst into laughter, covering her mouth with one hand to try and muffle the sounds. His gaze remained wary on her, as if he wasn't sure if he should still be offended or be amused with her. "I'm sorry," she said once she got a hold of her giggles "It's just that…you're a guy and you're very handsome and I've heard how guys can be so…"

"I would be lying if I said I've never found a woman sexually attractive," he was still giving her an odd look, which relaxed once she had stopped smiling and regarded him seriously "When I first started feeling that way, I felt that it was something I needed to control and conquer. At the time, I was partly afraid of allowing myself to feel intensely like that, because control was something I desperately needed. With Shukaku still within me, I didn't want to take any risks. Even after he was removed I continued to exercise control and discipline over all of my emotions. Eventually, it became second nature to acknowledge an emotion and then decide whether or not I wanted to dwell on it. If I did not, it was discarded. I focused on my work and before I had realized it, years had passed and I had stopped feeling that way altogether. And yes, I have been approached by women before but…I held no real attraction to them so trying to return their feelings, physical or otherwise, seemed wrong."

"Oh," for some reason, that made her happy, knowing that she had become the exception. It made her feel cherished. "Um, it doesn't seem like you're discarding those feelings now."

He tilted his head slightly and a wry smile emerged "There are a lot of things I haven't been doing since you've come into my life," he remarked dryly "And being in control has been almost impossible. In the four months that you have been here I've learned that I am a very jealous and possessive person. Among other things. I actually wanted to kill my brother that night when he seriously tried to approach you in front of me."

Hinata was stunned; if that were even a strong enough word to describe it. Gaara wasn't a pacifist, but he didn't support mindless violence either. "What? R-really?"

A guilty expression moved over him before he nodded slightly. "Yes," his other hand found its way to her waist and she resisted the urge to shy away from him. "I am also very positive that I will be forever supportive of you covering your body unless around me, otherwise I'm not sure what I'd do if I found someone looking at you inappropriately."

Her heart pounded hard against her chest as she digested those words. She remembered well how angry he had been that night. His face had remained the same expressionless mask but his eyes and the aura he had given off had told a completely different story. It shouldn't have, but knowing he had become like that because he had been jealous over her made her feel a little giddy. There was a very passionate side to Gaara and she had been the one to really awaken it. It was an amazing feeling.

"I wouldn't have thought you to be the jealous type." It was a light tease and was her way of calming her nerves.

He pulled her against him, her breath catching. The hand that had been caressing her face moved into her hair, gently tilting the back of her head up to face him. Even in the low light she could feel his hot gaze on her, trapping her eyes to his before dropping down to her lips. She licked them. His gaze snapped back up to her eyes, his expression very serious.

"When it comes to you, I feel as if I am a completely different person at times."

"Oh." Worry shifted through her "I-is that a bad thing?"

"No." Lips brushed along her jaw line and drifted down along her neck. The familiar weight of her forehead protector along her breastbone lifted as he removed the tie to gain better access. His teeth lightly grazed along sensitive flesh and she let out a small gasp "It is not a bad thing at all." There it was, that husky, sexy tone that had made her shiver.

Silence filled the room save for the soft noises she made as he lavished attention to her neck. The hand on her hip had shifted to slip underneath her jacket brushing along the fabric of her undershirt. She shivered and moaned softly when she felt his tongue trail along the sensitive spot at the base of her neck.

"What is this?" His voice was low as he murmured against her skin. "It's not like the other shirt you wore that night. It feels tighter." Something about the way he had said that last part had made her heart start pounding even harder. Why did he have to sound so incredibly sexy?

"It's um, it's my undershirt. I-it's supposed to be form fitting because it um, helps my…chest."

"I want to see it." It sounded like a soft growl, his hand moving from underneath her jacket to her chest where the zipper rested.

It was a good thing he was paying attention to her neck because her face was beet red. "It's not um, sexy or anything like that. It's just standard issue."

The sound of the zipper being pulled down filled the room. "I don't care." His voice sounded hard, but not from anger. He no longer sounded like the calm and gentle man she had interacted with over the past few months. There was a slight roughness to his tone and words that made her body tense with anticipation.

Heat washed over her as cool air hit her upper body. Even though he was being slow and taking his time, Hinata could feel that it was only because he was exercising an incredible amount of self-control and it was very close to breaking. She could feel the heat of his body through his clothes, the slight quivering of his hand as he gently brushed the jacket from her shoulders.

He took a step back to look at her as the jacket dropped in a pool around her feet. She had never really thought much of the black shinobi undershirts that many people wore; they hadn't been designed to be appealing, just practical. When Gaara's gaze moved over her body, she felt as if she were wearing sexy lace lingerie instead of her shirt, the look in his eyes was so intense. Even though his face remained somewhat neutral the desire was there in his eyes and his words. Moving to her again she felt his arms come around her.

"Hinata," his voice sounded like a plea "I promised if you didn't want to do anything we would not, however…I think I need an answer right now." Fingers trailed up her arm up to her bare shoulder before he dipped his head, lips brushing over her shoulder, the fishnet and up her neck. "Please tell me now if you don't want to do this so that I may back away." A whisper in her ear, although his voice sounded strained.

Nervousness and anticipation filled her. "H-how can you s-sound so confident?" An interesting question since she had been the one who had pushed the first time "Aren't you nervous?"

"Very," both hands were sliding up her sides now "But with you standing here like this I cannot stop thinking about how beautiful you look. I desire you immensely."

Shaky arms moved around his neck and she shifted him until she could slide her lips over his in answer. The grip on her tightened slightly, he made a small sound when she parted for him. His hands slid underneath the fabric of her shirt as he deepened the kiss, becoming hurried and slightly aggressive. They parted, gasping for air and then his lips were on hers again, hard and demanding. Somehow her fingers had worked their way down to his chest and were currently unbuckling the straps of his jacket. Without breaking their kiss he shrugged out of the material the moment she finished, one hand sliding up her back and the other cupping her breast. He squeezed softly and she moaned against his lips.

He tore his lips from her then, trailing kisses down her neck. When his lips kept drifting down her heart nearly stopped. His hand began to knead her breast, moving softly, then harder when she let out a small cry. His mouth trailed down and then his lips were brushing against a hardened nipple through the fabric. She squirmed slightly at the sensation, her lower half feeling tight and hot. Fingers dug into her lower back and he took her breast into his mouth, uncaring of the fabric blocking him. Her cry filled the room and her hands delved into his hair, back arching. His other hand finally – finally – slipped under the fabric as he took her other nipple between his fingers. Heat moved through her as his hand finally touched bare skin and she wanted his mouth on her, sans undershirt.

Raising back up he pulled her in for another hard kiss, hand shifting from teasing her nipple to cupping her entire breast, simply feeling. She slipped her hands underneath his shirt and was rewarded with a moan as her hands slid up his stomach to his chest, enjoying the feel of the hard muscles underneath. Hinata lifted the fabric just a bit to indicate that she wanted him to remove the shirt, which he did in one fluid motion. He didn't even try to hide the lust in his eyes as her fingers gripped the edges of her own shirt and lifted, the fabric joining the growing pile on the floor. He stopped for a moment, standing there to let his eyes take her in. Feeling a little self conscious, she began to raise her arms in an attempt to cover herself but he stopped her, pushing them away.

"Don't," his voice was low, husky and strained. Fingers brushed along her stomach "Just a moment longer."

He closed the distance between them again, pulling her a little roughly against him. He nipped lightly at her neck and she could feel the length of him against her thigh, hard and hot. Another shiver went through her. His mouth closed over her breast then, sucking lightly. Another cry escaped and her head dipped back in pleasure. He continued, using his tongue and teeth, a hand on her other breast. She squirmed and shifted as waves of pleasure washed down her to stir and swirl at her core. The more she gasped and moaned the more passionate he became, his mouth switching over to her other breast at a point.

"G-Gaara…" she panted when it started to become too much "Gaara please…I…"

The back of her legs hit something hard. Startled, she fell backwards and onto the bed and he let her go. Wait, when did he…?

She shifted her eyes to his, panting. He stood there, eyes roving over her body. Unable to help herself she looked down, her breath hitching at the obvious arousal straining against the fabric of his pants. Embarrassed, her eyes snapped back up and he bent down, bracing his arms on the bed to nuzzle at her neck. She giggled as his hair tickled her skin. Hinata began to move backwards, moving further up along the bed. He followed her until his body was completely hovering over hers. A whimper emerged when she felt his hand on the fabric of her pants. His eyes snapped to hers hand freezing in place. Concerned that he was getting the wrong idea she reached with shaky fingers to unbutton his pants. It was difficult, since he was taller than her and he was hovering while she was lying flat on her back. Eventually he sat up and undid it himself. There was the soft sound of a zipper and then he was hovering over her again, going back to his original task of trying to get her out of her pants. She couldn't help but notice that as his pants drifted lower down his hips that there was nothing but skin.

"Y…you don't wear any underwear?" her voice sounded very loud in the otherwise silent room.

"No." He sounded highly amused by her reaction. "You don't wear a bra." He pointed out.

"But that's because of the undershirt…"

Without thinking she lifted her hips as he tugged her pants down. "Yes. The undershirt."

Was he teasing her? He wasn't smiling but she could see the laughter in his eyes. Pants off, she was now clad only in her panties. She licked her lips.

Amusement gone, he bent to kiss her again, a hand drifting down between her legs. Without thinking she spread herself a little wider to give him better access. He was still kissing her as his hand slipped underneath.

She broke the kiss this time with a pained cry "Gaara that's…that hurts. Um, n-not so hard."

A grunt "Forgive me. Is this better?"

Her hips lifted up closer to his hand as she let out a soft moan "Y-yes...like that."

Hinata felt his body shudder at the sound of her voice. He slid one finger inside of her and his name escaped her lips. The second finger felt a little stranger to her, as she could feel herself stretching a bit uncomfortably.

"Am I hurting you?" He sounded genuinely concerned. "I thought that this was the right way to…"

"No, it's fine," she smiled up at him reassuringly and kissed him softly "This is how it is. It just feels…different."

"I could stop."

"No! No just…just keep doing…" her eyes closed as her body adjusted to his fingers and pleasure filled her once more. When his hand left her she made a soft noise at the loss but wasn't too disappointed when his fingers tugged on her panties. Those were quickly removed but his hand didn't return to its previous spot. When she opened her eyes she realized his hand was slightly shaking before settling on her hip.

"Gaara?"

Looking at him, she noticed that his calm and confident voice did not match the feelings within those green eyes of his. Gaara had been, and still was, nervous."I don't want to hurt you."

Lavender eyes blinked up at him in slight confusion. "You won't hurt me, I trust you."

Suddenly, he looked away from her "Doesn't the first time hurt for a woman?" His voice was quiet and she had to strain to hear him. "I have hurt you enough tonight with my callousness."

He was referring to earlier at the greenhouse. Just because she wanted to, she reached up and kissed him. Even now he was trying hard to be considerate and exercise control even though they both knew what he really wanted. Sitting up a bit, she pushed his pants further down until he eventually slid out of them.

"I um, I might know something that could help." Her face burned hot "Someone told me about it once. Um, sit up against the headboard."

The look he gave her was one of obvious confusion but he lifted up and away from her. Sitting up, she moved over to him as he sat up against the headboard. Hinata bit her lip and tried to avoid looking down at his obvious arousal, but it was just impossible. Hesitantly, she straddled him, making sure that she slid her core along him. Both of them gasped in surprise at the sensation and Gaara tilted his head back. Strong hands gripped her hips and he lifted his own up, pressing himself harder against her with a growl. She rocked her hips and his fingers dug into her, guiding her movements. Just moving over him like that already had her panting and squirming, she had no idea what would happen once he was actually inside of her.

Leaning forward Gaara was back at her neck, nipping and sucking at her skin. "You're so…hot and wet," he breathed against her ear "It is an incredible feeling…" the voice was heavy with desire.

"I think I'm ready," she whispered back. The death grip he had on her hips loosened and he moved back to look at her. He didn't ask her if she was sure about this but the question was in his eyes. With a smile her lips closed over his and she lifted her hips, reaching her hand between the two of them. Her fingers brushed against him and then she shifted so that she could guide him inside. She felt the tip right underneath her entrance and she began to slide down. The death grip returned as his head pushed through and inside. She continued to push down until she felt something like a barrier stop them.

He let out a breath but continued to look at her. "I'm okay," she once again reassured and pushed. It was a strange sensation, feeling him move deeper inside, stretching her. Pain hit her and she stopped abruptly.

"Hinata…" his voice cracked as he said her name.

"It's okay. It just…give me a moment." Both of them were breathing heavily and the heat from their bodies beginning to cause the both of them to sweat. Gaara didn't move, didn't twitch, he just looked at her, staring into her eyes. There was determination there, he'd stop if he felt she was in too much pain, she could see it. She felt that it was a little too late for that now, so after a minute she pushed again, squeezing her eyes shut and biting her lip. Soon there was the sensation of something giving way and then he was fully in. He groaned loudly, arms wrapping around her, burying his face into her neck. He continued to hold her and they sat like that for a moment, Hinata waiting for the pain to fade. His breath was hot, heavy, and slightly shaky against her neck.

Then she was moving and she couldn't help but shiver when he moaned in her ear and practically crushed her body against his. She didn't stop, rolling her hips and the previous pain shifted to one of heavy pleasure. Her name escaped his lips and he leaned back against the headboard, his hands moving back to her hips, pulling her harder and deeper. Like this, she was able to move at a pace comfortable for her, which had been the point of what her 'friend' had told her. What she hadn't known was how good it would feel, how the soft noises from her lover only added to the sensation. She found herself picking up speed as her body tensed and the pleasure quickly began to reach a peak.

"Wait…" he came in suddenly "Too…s-slow down I can't…gods you're so tight…"

She didn't stop; the pressure building up in her was too intense for her to slow down. He did try to get her to slow using his hands but then quickly gave up, his hips thrusting up as he quickly reached his limit. When she felt him swell inside of her was when her body shattered. Wave after wave of intense pleasure hit her hard and she cried out his name at the peak. His voice had joined hers, his upcoming climax having caused hers, her body milking him. He pulled her hard against him as her hips continued to move, riding along the undercurrents as their bodies quickly began to settle.

When they did stop moving Hinata rested her forehead on his, both of them panting heavily, their bodies covered with sweat. They said nothing for a long moment, enjoying the silence and the after effects of their lovemaking. Their arms wrapped around each other; she didn't move and he remained still deeply buried within her.

"I think my body has turned into jelly," she joked lightly, giggling a bit as she still struggled to calm her breathing.

"That was the most intense thing I have ever felt," he responded "I think…I might become addicted."

She couldn't disagree with that, so she didn't. It had been the most intense and amazing feeling she'd ever experienced. There simply wasn't anything that could compare to it.

When she didn't respond he put her at enough distance so he could look at her. "Are you in pain?" he asked.

"No," she said with a laugh "Far from it. I-I think I might have fallen even more in love with you."

Gaara let out a sigh and leaned back again, closing his eyes. Lifting her hand she brushed her fingers along his brow, pausing at the kanji tattoo. Hesitantly, her fingers trailed along the strokes.

"Did it hurt when you got this?" she asked offhandedly.

There was a thoughtful pause "I don't remember. It might have, but at the time the pain I had felt was greater." He sounded tired and his hands began to move lazily about her body, enjoying the feel.

"O-oh." The tattoo was something from his past, before she had ever met him at the chunnin exams. He still didn't talk with her about that and she suddenly realized that she could have very well brought up something painful after experiencing something so wonderful "I shouldn't have asked you that, I'm sorry."

Green eyes emerged and looked at her. "I do not mind although you're the first person that's touched it." A small but warm smile graced his features "Do not look so sad; it was a very long time ago and I have long since come to terms with it."

"But…it wasn't fair," she said miserably. The two people she had ended up loving the most had experienced painful lives over something they had never asked for. No one deserved a life like that.

The look that Gaara gave her was one that she'd never see again and yet it was so profound and full of meaning that it forever remained ingrained in her memories.

"I am not unhappy with my life," he eventually said although his gaze had strayed from her face. "It has not been an easy one, but in the end it has been good overall." They looked at each other then, a hand rising to brush along her face with his fingers. They stayed like that for a good while until suddenly she noticed his eyes were darkening once more. Arms tightened around her and he shifted "Hinata."

She gasped when she felt him stir inside of her. His hands slid up along her back, over her shoulders and down her arms. He couldn't be… "Gaara…"

"I do not think you will be getting much sleep tonight." His voice was a low rumble in his throat as he pulled her into a hard kiss.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

The Kazekage couldn't exactly remember when the last time it was that he had gotten good, solid sleep. Perhaps never, if he thought about it. Right now, however, as he opened his eyes and lay in his bed he realized that not only had he slept for longer than three hours but that all he really wanted to do was close his eyes and return to his dreams.

Something warm shifted beside him and he turned to look at Hinata sleeping peacefully, her head resting on his shoulder. Surprising, since _he_ hadn't woken up because he had wanted to.

The second pound on his door did wake Hinata up. Startled, she sat up a bit in bed, pulling the sheets over her ample bosom. He remained where he was, feeling too drained to move. True to his word they had ended up not sleeping at all last night, which had been fine as his lover had been as insatiable as he. The two of them had ended up spending that time getting to know each other's bodies, trying to figure out who liked what, how, and where. It had been…a pleasurable experience. It wasn't during their lovemaking but after where Hinata had said something so innocent but so meaningful that he fully understood his feelings for her.

Right now, though, he was beginning to feel amused. There was another pound to the door and then someone, his aide it sounded like, called out his name. Hinata's face had drained of all color and she gave him a panicked look.

"W-what should we do?" She whispered, lying back down against him "They sound upset."

He closed his eyes. He was in a rebellious mood. "Ignore them. Eventually they will go away."

"Gaara!" She hissed and he fought the urge to smile. "We can't just ignore them. What if they break down the door?"

Still keeping his eyes closed he raised his arm and pointed. When she looked, she saw how his sand was already starting to crawl up the door, blocking anyone from entering.

"Go back to sleep." When he attempted to roll over she pulled on him until he was lying on his back again. He opened his eyes. Her face was flushed, her hair was messy and she looked just as tired as he was although it was a happy sort of tired. Raising a hand, his fingers brushed along her cheek. _Beautiful_.

"Gaara!" Temari's voice now "Gaara we know you're in there. It's almost _noon_, what the hell are you doing? Did you forget you have work?"

Hinata's eyes widened to saucers "It's almost noon? Oh...I can't believe…I have to get to the hospital!"

She was beginning to look distraught which was not amusing and he suddenly felt irritated with Temari. He knew that the last thing Hinata would enjoy was a group full of people bursting in with them in the situation they were in. Resisting the urge to sigh, he sat up, allowing the sheets to pool around his waist.

"Temari."

There was a small pause "Gaara! What's going on?"

"I will be in the office in two hours. At the moment I am somewhat busy." He ignored his lover's horrified gasp. There really wasn't any other way to get them to leave, they would have to know that their Kazekage was…busy. With things.

"What the hell do you mean you're busy?" Came his sister's voice from the other side of the door. "What could you possibly be busy with this late in the morning?"

"Temari," his voice was firmer this time "I will be in the office in two hours. Right now, I am _busy_."

There was murmuring and then an abrupt silence.

"Goddamn it Gaara you got two hours and I swear if you two aren't done I'm going to kick _both_ of your asses. You hear me in there Hyuuga?"

Hinata made a small noise and buried her head under the sheets. Of course, Temari didn't wait for an answer and soon they were alone again.

"I-I can't believe you told them that…" her voice sounded small underneath the covers. He looked down at her frame before pulling the sheets down from over her head. He wasn't going to hold a conversation with his girlfriend while she was underneath his sheets. Not unless he was under them with her.

He didn't really want her to be upset, so he rubbed his hand up and down her arm soothingly "I am sorry, but they wouldn't have left otherwise and letting them in wasn't an option." He paused "Either way, we wouldn't have been able to keep this a secret."

With a sigh she sat back up "I didn't mean it like that. It's just…that sort of thing…it's private. It's not something you…" she sighed again when she found herself frustrated, unable to word herself properly.

Gaara didn't quite understand what she meant, but it was obviously important to her so it would have to become important to him. "I'm sorry. I will try not to put you in this sort of position again."

Her hand cupped his cheek and she kissed him briefly "That's not really it either but…thank you. It wasn't your fault; we both didn't keep track of the time. I'm really late, I better hurry and get ready…" she paused when he gently grabbed her wrist, keeping her from leaving. When he was sure she wouldn't jump out of bed his arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer, his lips nibbling on her ear. She let out a little breath "W-what?"

"I told her two hours," he murmured against her neck, placing a kiss along a mark he had made on her. "We still have plenty of time."

He hadn't been joking when he said he could become addicted, although it wasn't really to sex so much as it was to her. Kissing her, touching her, tasting her, it was never 'enough'. She didn't push at him when he started guiding her back to the bed but she was a little tense. The battle wasn't quite won yet.

"Weren't you tired a moment ago?" She protested weakly, a pleasurable chill moving over her as his hand moved to a spot he had discovered last night to be very sensitive. "A-and you're cheating."

"Yes," he said to both "but now I am very awake." Shifting, he began to slowly scrape his teeth along a sensitive part of her neck while his hand – ah, _that_ was the noise he had wanted to hear.

Triumphant, he moved his body on top of hers and pulled the sheets over them.

That had been his rather enjoyable night and morning. The afternoon had been another story. Once he finally decided to walk into his office Temari _and_ Baki had let him know that while they were happy that he was happy, he still had responsibilities and damnit, don't leave them hanging. Under normal circumstances he really would have felt guilty, but admitting to guilt would be the same as admitting that he regretted allowing things between himself and Hinata to go the way they had. He refused to do that. In all of his years as Kazekage, he had never once faltered or done anything to disappoint those close to him. They'd get over him being selfish this _one_ time. Also, Temari really didn't have room to talk, she had ditched him more than once for Nara and he had never once complained. It had never even been a problem to him.

After that scolding things went back to normal. The meetings he was supposed to have had that morning had been shifted with the exception of those that didn't exactly need his approval to be passed. The more important diplomats were starting to fill in for the afternoon and none of them had been jilted. On that front, he was relieved, for pissing off more important diplomats came back to haunt and he didn't want that for his village. There had to be limits to his selfishness.

Gaara sort of went into a state of half-awareness after a few hours, half of him paying attention to what was going on and the other half was thinking about his more personal issues. In short, he had his lover on his mind as always, except now he was able to curb the more intense sensations. He was pretty sure that had been because of last night and was surprised to realize that crossing that threshold hadn't made things as worse as he had believed. It was easier now to split his attentions, an ability he had held prior to Hinata's arrival due to being forced to learn how to multitask as a Kage. He was glad to know that his ability hadn't been completely shot to hell.

As the day grew later he had wondered off and on what Hinata would do if he actually proposed to her. While they had agreed that they would stay together, nothing else concrete had been established between them. When he had first realized that his feelings for Hinata went deep he had known that as a political figure he could very well send a request to the current Hyuuga clan leader for Hinata's hand. An official request by a Kage would be difficult, if not impossible, for them to deny. Especially if he actively pursued it and not take their initial refusal as a final answer. Marriage wasn't a huge thing when it came to politics, arranged marriages were not only common but expected. At the time he hadn't been sure if he would really want to try and manipulate the situation that way. It really wasn't like him to do something underhanded and since he hadn't known how Hinata really felt about him he had just dropped it.

He really didn't want her in a position that would come out unfavorably for her but since she had not mentioned marriage, he wasn't sure if he should either. At this point he was fine with it, he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and only her. Marriage would be the official 'icing' on the cake, so to speak.

Eventually, he decided not to dwell too much on it. Tonight he would bring up possibly addressing their relationship officially to the clan leader and to Naruto, perhaps making her 'sacrifice' a little easier to bear.

There ended up being an issue later in the evening that he had been forced to directly intervene. One of the diplomats, who actually was scheduled to be seen another day, had decided to spend his time getting obnoxiously drunk and stormed into the compound demanding to be seen _immediately_, threatening all sorts of things, including war, if the Kazekage didn't 'get off his ass' and hop to it because he was this guy from this village of this lineage and who did that redheaded bastard think he was anyway to tell him to wait his turn?

The man was so completely drunk that Gaara hadn't been able to even take him seriously. The 'red headed bastard' calmly explained to the drunken man that the reason he wasn't being seen right away was because he – the Kazekage - wanted to make certain that he would have more than enough time to listen to everything he had to say and give his full attention to the issue. It was flattery and an outright lie, but it had placated him enough for him to be escorted off the premises. Shortly thereafter all of the local bars and shops were informed that under no certain circumstances was that man ever to be given liquor in this village again.

A messenger had stopped by around dinner time with a letter from Hinata apologizing as she would not be able to tear from her work to come make dinner and if he could let the others know. He'd sent the messenger to go tell Temari since he was honestly too busy and he hadn't had any plans to go to dinner himself. He did read over the letter a few times, just because he loved her handwriting. It was definitely girly yet elegant in a 'professional' way.

Assigning missions had been the last thing on the agenda after all the meetings were over with. It was also time to balance the books for the month, meaning he wasn't going to bed until at least one am. This was disappointing and he had his aide go and tell Hinata to come and see him at her earliest convenience.

It was eleven at night when he finally saw her. Hinata looked as tired as he felt, her eyes were a little dark at the bottom, she was paler than normal and her hair looked like a windswept mess. No matter how she looked, however, he could not see her as anything short of beautiful. It was amazing to him how feelings and emotions could completely change a person's view of another. When he had first met Hinata he hadn't felt one way or the other towards her. Now he wasn't entirely sure how he ever could have _not_ found her to be beautiful. Was it the same for her, perhaps?

"I see your day has been as fulfilling as mine," he had remarked when she entered. Her smile was small but genuine; amusement lit her eyes at his light teasing. He didn't joke often for he had realized his type of humor was considered 'dry' and 'not very funny' so he had stopped trying. It was highly refreshing to know that at least someone wasn't put off by him.

"Kaede scolded me for almost an hour and then picked on me the entire day," she said, but she didn't look all that upset about it "Um, after that there were actually a few medical emergencies that needed extra personnel so we all ended up helping and still had to complete our own work afterwards." Hinata looked pleased "It was productive. How was your day Gaara?"

Like him, she seemed to enjoy her work. He wondered when she was finally here to stay if he could arrange for her to work at the hospital. Hinata strictly as a housewife didn't seem to suit her and he really didn't need one; there were people who kept the compound clean. He did inwardly smile at how familiar she was being with him, outside of the bedroom of course.

He gave her a brief summary of his day, to which Hinata had thought the drunken diplomat incident funny in particular.

"He called you a what?" she had asked at one point, giggling.

"Apparently," he had said to her with a warm smile "I am a red haired bastard. I have to admit that I was also amused. It was simply too difficult to be insulted or take him seriously."

Somehow during their exchange his lover had ended up sitting partly on his lap and he found that he couldn't complain. If someone decided to burst in then they would burst in. One hand rested on her thigh and the other rubbed her back while she leaned against him, head resting on his shoulder.

"I asked you to come here because I had been unable to ask earlier if you would like to stay in my room until you leave. Unfortunately, I won't be able to come to bed until very late tonight, but I will come to bed." He gently pulled her down to his level and kissed her softly "I would like to wake up and see your face like this morning."

Her answering smile was bright as she nodded "Okay. I'd like that."

---------

It was three in the morning when he finally entered his own room and Hinata was, as expected, fast asleep. Since Gaara had slept longer than normal earlier today he was not at all tired now. He showered and when he emerged from the bathroom Hinata was awake, or half awake. She looked sleepy and she was rubbing at her eyes but she _seemed_ awake. It was…cute. She was definitely very cute when she wanted to be.

"Gaara?"

"It is late, you should go back to sleep." Clad only in some pajama pants Temari had brought for him one year he slid into bed beside her, although he had no intentions of sleeping. It was such a strange but welcome feeling to have someone curl up and snuggle next to him. He remained on his back but he did put his arm around her and pull her close.

"What time is it?" Came the sleepy Hinata. She said something else but he couldn't make it out.

"It's three in the morning. Go back to sleep."

"But I haven't spent any time with you today, I missed you." Blinking, he looked at her. Her eyes were closed but she was frowning slightly "I want to talk."

Amusement crept up on him and he couldn't help it when his lips twitched slightly. A tired Hinata was a demanding Hinata it seemed "What would you like to talk about?"

"Mmmm…."

When she didn't respond after a while he thought she had fallen asleep. He was driven from his random thoughts when she suddenly made a small noise and sighed.

"I love you Gaara."

"I know."

"Gaara?"

"Yes?"

"You really do believe we'll stay together don't you?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

He paused "…Yes."

"Really really?"

"Go to sleep Hinata."

She went silent again and eventually he was convinced that she had finally fallen asleep. Was this what was considered 'weird bed habits'? He didn't mind it at all, it was actually somewhat funny. It also drove it home that he was indeed in a serious relationship and that someone was sleeping with him in his bed and that said person was very much in love with him. After sleeping alone for so long having someone there warming his side was…different. It made him feel that he was 'normal', whatever that truly meant. In a lot of ways he was painfully aware that he was different in his thoughts, beliefs, and actions. Not having someone beside him had seemed almost expected from people, because he was Gaara and Gaara was different in ways that would make it difficult for him to hold a steady relationship.

Yet here she was.

He almost said the words aloud then, even though she was asleep and wouldn't hear. Instead he pulled her a little tighter against his body and closed his eyes.

There were many more nights after that one in which they spent lying side by side. Some nights they did very little sleeping and quite a bit of lovemaking, some nights Hinata simply wanted to be beside him and he had no qualms with obliging her.

The two of them also became a little reckless. A lot of it was his fault because he found it very difficult at times to control his desire for her. One time she had asked him what his fantasy was. When he didn't exactly have any that he could think of, she told him two of hers, which was that she had fantasized them making love in his office and on the kitchen table. Of course, she never really _expected_ those things to happen, which was why it was a fantasy. Well, after she had told him that he had found himself unable to stop thinking about it. The more he thought about it, the more he tried to figure out ways to actually accomplish it.

The kitchen one had been the easiest. One night he had professed that he was hungry and asked her if she wanted to tag along while he made himself a midnight snack. He had his 'snack' on the kitchen table and the kitchen counter and it had been delicious.

The office one was one he was still thinking on, but he had done something quite daring that he knew he probably would not do again because of the embarrassing situation it'd put Hinata in – along with the fact that it was probably wrong. During the middle of the day, he had seen Hinata walking down the hallway of the residential area. The next thing he knew she was biting his shoulder to keep from crying out as he took her right there against the wall. That one had _definitely_ been completely his fault but he also hadn't really seen or touched her in almost two days. He hadn't realized how much that would affect him until it had happened.

He did eventually go and ask his brother if such things were normal. Kankuro told him that because it was Gaara and he'd been trying to bottle up and control his 'basic' nature for so long that it wasn't surprising he had a hard time controlling it now. He told him that eventually he'd calm down and settle into a "groove or whatever".

The two months went by incredibly fast and the extended time even faster. Hinata would be leaving him and it was expected that it would probably be a while before they could see each other again on a permanent basis. Her workload now consisted of simply wrapping up loose ends and setting up future correspondence for various things like specific medicinal ingredients and things of that nature. All in all, he had been very happy with the end results of the project. Suna now held a wider variety of herbs, the hospital was slowly receiving upgrades where needed and the medics held a wealth of knowledge about Konoha medical practices and would be able to teach it to others. It was projected that his people would heal faster, be fit for duty sooner, and the mortality rate for shinobi should sharply decrease, improving the quality of life.

There would be opportunities for Suna and Konoha to hold joint ventures in the future for medical purposes and trade would soon be established for the medical supplies that were a bit rarer but still highly effective. He really couldn't have asked for it to go any better and his letter of thanks to Naruto had definitely been heartfelt.

Hinata didn't know it, but the Uchiha situation had quieted down and was now a dull buzz outside of Konoha gates. Gaara had ended up having to speak up and support Konoha through a series of correspondence letters between the other nations and their ambassadors. At the present moment, Konoha held full custody of the missing nin and no, his memory had not returned and it was unsure if it ever would. Personally, the Kazekage felt that that was for the best. The darkness that the Uchiha had embraced ended up practically swallowing him whole and almost destroyed everyone else around him. Seeing his friend and so many others deal with that had been difficult when there had been little he could do. He did not enjoy feeling useless, especially when it came to those he deeply cared about.

He had asked Hinata only once if she would allow him to write ahead and inform the clan and the Hokage about their relationship. Hinata had refused, telling him that it would be better if she returned and then told them about the 'potential' relationship and convince the council to try and 'persuade' the Kazekage to seriously consider something long term. She did not mention marriage, although they knew that was what it would come down to if done that way.

If that would not work, she would beseech her clan and Naruto to allow her to leave the clan, abandon her position as a kunoichi and come to live in Suna as a civilian. He _really_ didn't like that scenario but she had insisted that it probably wouldn't come to that.

The bottom line was that if her clan knew she had already had 'relations' with the Kazekage they'd be enraged, demand reparations for making their heir 'undesirable' for suitors and worst case scenario disown her for compromising herself in such a disgraceful manner. In short, they had to do it the sneaky political way so that feathers wouldn't be ruffled. The final argument had been for him to write a letter claiming that he was 'interested' in the Hyuuga, saving her a few steps. She said that it would be better to wait until she could get them on board with the idea. If she was the one presenting it, it would look as if she was trying to be proactive for the clan and it'd be more difficult for them to deny it.

"Father has denied every suitor who has asked for me." She had also explained. He was proud of the fact that he hadn't asked her _who_ or _how many_ had asked for her. Gaara hoped it meant that he would eventually get over his slight possessiveness of Hinata as being angry and jealous weren't feelings he enjoyed.

Gaara decided to try one last tactic on the second to last day of her stay there. It was one he hadn't been seriously considering until it started to really connect with him that she was _leaving_ and he wouldn't be seeing her for an indeterminable amount of time.

"Hinata, stay here with me." They lay in bed, his arm around her waist with her back pressed against his chest.

"Mm?" Her voice sounded a little sleepy, which, considering what they had been doing for the past few hours made sense. "I'm here already."

The Kazekage's arm tightened around his lover "That is not what I mean. I mean, stay here, in Suna with me. Don't return to Konoha."

"Huh?" Now he had her attention, turning her body until she faced him. Their eyes met and his hand began to move along her side under the covers. Smiling warmly at him, she brushed her fingers along his jaw. "I can't do that Gaara, we know that."

"You could," he insisted "you could let me handle everything and stay here. Naruto would understand, I think he would even try to help if I asked." Pulling her close, he buried his face in her hair, the lilac and lavender scent she always held filling his senses "Stay here, don't leave. If you stay here I could protect you from your clan."

"Gaara…" she sounded a little sad. Her arms came around and she pulled him until his head was resting on her chest. Her fingers moved through his hair soothingly. "If I do that, it would create so much hostility. I'd never be able to return home, you would have to fight to keep me from being classified as a missing nin. It might not start a war but it would strain relations and you've worked very hard for the alliances you do have. I…I have faith that everything will work out."

A pause. He decided to be honest with her. "It's hard for me to explain this but somehow, I feel that if you leave something terrible will happen and I might not see you again." He felt tired all of a sudden "I am afraid." It was a whisper against her skin, barely audible.

Losing her would undo him, he knew this. Although he had trouble trying to say it verbally, he was in love with Hinata. Perhaps she understood, she never complained when he didn't return the words and she seemed happy with him.

Gently her hands pulled him up so that they were face to face "We will see each other again," she said, smiling warmly at him "I promise."

AN: It has only been recently that I've gotten back into the groove of writing and submitting things here. With that said, I am surprised and humbled by the amount of reviews my fics have been receiving. I understand that there are a lot of writers who hold way more reviews than I (their fics _have_ been up longer so that is understandable) but it's pretty nifty to know that I've come to a point where my fics are good enough to be received well. It is a true honor and while I don't really like to give 'shout outs' to every single reviewer I receive for a chapter in the fic itself, I do smile a cheesy grin and I am grateful for more in-depth reviews. I do practically say this almost every chapter but I feel it's the least I can do, since I do not always respond back. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

AN: I am aware that it actually takes three days to get to Suna from Konoha. I'm too lazy to change it. :p A bit of a spoiler: Aka means 'red' in Japanese and Kiba's dog is (obviously) white. Gaara makes a comment about Akamaru's name so I wanted to make sure everyone was on track with that.

**Chapter Ten**

After Hinata left, Gaara stopped sleeping.

He did rest from time to time like he did before; cat naps when his mind and body were too tired _not_ to take a small rest, but true sleep eluded him. In addition, he had also not entered his room since she had left beyond showering and dressing. Whenever he walked in there, he would smell her scent and look at his empty bed with longing.

Often he would go out in the middle of the night and explore the city. There were spots that he had wanted to take her but had been difficult because either he had been too busy or she had been too busy and was exhausted from work. When she returned he would make it a point to take her to those spots so she could see the beauty that he saw looking at his village.

As a surprise, Gaara had taken personal funds that he never used and put it towards building a smaller greenhouse inside the compound. There were actually a few places where something like that would be a welcome addition. It would be there for whatever she wanted to grow, since she seemed to love it so much.

When two weeks passed without any word from her, he had convinced himself that she was trying to get back into the swing of things, giving reports and settling back in her home. His siblings had been understanding and rarely mentioned Hinata and they never asked him if he had heard from her.

The third week he received one letter claiming to be from Hinata, but the letter itself had been so impersonal and formal that even with the handwriting looking the same he had held doubts. A thank you for allowing her to stay in his country, generic blurb about how she had enjoyed her stay and her work there, and well wishes. It was strange but once again he had told himself that Hinata knew what she was doing and things would work out as she planned.

A month went by with only one letter that seemed too formal and stiff to have been from her. When another entire month passed and he had heard nothing, he knew something had gone wrong. Still, he did nothing because he had promised he would wait for her and he was a man of his word. That feeling of dread he had felt before intensified with each day to a point where he now barely even took cat naps.

He had no idea how he managed to function properly but another day would go by and he would properly fulfill his duties as Kazekage. Personally, he became reclusive – more so than usual – and withdrawn. Kankuro had left on a mission, returned weeks later and he hadn't even gone to see him.

The third month passed and still nothing. Now his siblings were beginning to become annoyed and were voicing their opinions on the matter. Both of them were beginning to believe that Hinata wasn't going to come back at all, that she had lied. They suspected that she had 'tossed' their brother aside. He did not tell them about her clan issues, he simply told them that Hinata would not abandon him.

Not willingly.

The fourth month Temari told him he needed to write Naruto and figure out what the hell was going on. It had been something he had wanted to do since the beginning, but he refused. His sister was pissed that Hinata would leave for so long and not send even one real letter. As a political figure of his power and status, if he had held a relationship with someone he had a right to know what was going on if he was trying to pursue something more solid. Politically speaking she was absolutely correct. If a person in a powerful position wanted something or someone, he had a right to know the details. Unfortunately, their relationship had not been made official and he had never written the Hyuuga to claim he held an interest, so there was little he could do concerning pulling strings. They hadn't kept it a secret while she was here, not really, but no one in Konoha knew and that mattered.

A few days later he received a very strange letter from Naruto. He had a feeling it was about Hinata but it had been too vague.

_Hey Gaara!_

_Neji is on vacation, s'bout time right? Anyway, we should hang out sometime, hit me up guy, you barely write me!_

That had been it and he didn't know what the hell that was even supposed to mean. It had taken him a good day just to remember that Neji was Hinata's cousin, the other Hyuuga who had escorted her. Why Gaara should care about Hyuuga Neji being on vacation was beyond him. There was no mention of Hinata, but because Naruto had mentioned a Hyuuga it meant that _somehow_ it was connected.

He thought maybe that Naruto was implying that Hinata was with him, but that didn't make sense, he would have just said that. The last part also sounded strangely suspicious, Naruto never complained about their lack of communication before.

_I am missing something very important here, but without any details..._

He found out what it was two days later when Hyuuga Neji, 'on vacation' demanded an audience with the Kazekage. 'Demanded' was the proper term to use and by the time word had reached him that Hinata's cousin was there Neji had managed to single handedly piss off every shinobi currently on watch at the gate and at the compound. If it hadn't been for Temari, things would have become quite ugly.

Gaara's aide had been flustered and red faced when he had burst through the door and it had taken him a minute to calm the other male down enough to tell him the situation.

"Tell him I'll see him," he gave his poor aide a small pat on the shoulder "let him come up now."

_Something is very wrong._

Five minutes later a flushed and pissed off Temari stormed in with the Hyuuga right behind her. Gaara didn't really know Hinata's cousin that well, but 'angry' wasn't what he had been expecting. Over the years he had felt that the two of them held similarities when it came to expressing themselves outwardly, although Neji wasn't quite as bad when it came to being stoic. The long haired man usually had a calm, but serious air to him. Seeing him like this put Gaara off guard.

Smoothly, the Hyuuga produced a scroll from his robes and placed it on his desk.

"First," Neji's voice sounded calm despite his obvious irritation "could you kindly explain to me why, the moment you realized you had feelings for _the Hyuuga heir_, you did not – as you should being a Kage – inform the Hyuuga?"

Slowly, Gaara reached out and picked up the scroll. It definitely held the Hyuuga crest. He tried very hard to ignore the fact that Neji wasn't unjustified in his anger. Since Gaara had no real answer for Neji he decided to do what he did best, stare at the person until they got to their point. Realizing he wasn't going to get an answer, Neji tried another question.

"It never once crossed your mind to contact the Hyuuga with your intentions?"

"It did," the Kazekage answered honestly "however, by the time that had been decided, things had already progressed to a point where Hinata felt it would be best to go a different route."

"You could have at least written the Hokage." Neji seemed to be calming down, but the dread in Gaara's gut began to rise.

_I think I know where this is going._

"I was under the impression the Hokage could not become involved with your clan's issues."

The Hyuuga gave him an exasperated 'man, you are dense' look "Under normal circumstances, yes. However, with you being the Kazekage, informing the Hokage would have made this situation a lot easier, Naruto could have gotten involved. By not informing _anyone_, not even through private means, this situation has escalated to a ridiculous level."

"…_hit me up guy, you barely write me!"_

"So Naruto is aware of the situation." Now the cryptic message made sense.

"Yes, he is well informed of the situation. There is very little he can do by himself."

"So what the hell _is_ going on Hyuuga?" Temari came in, stepping forward "Last we heard Hinata said she was going to come back and then we hear nothing for four months."

"There is a very good reason for that," he said, turning to her "that is because Hinata-sama is under house arrest. She cannot leave the grounds, she is not allowed visitors and she is not allowed to do anything besides sit in her room until the child arrives."

"What did you just say?"

A cold pale gaze rested on him "Hinata-sama is pregnant. You didn't notice?"

No, he hadn't. Neither had Temari, if the way the color drained from her face said anything. Gaara felt as if he should be feeling something monumental, something incredibly powerful at the announcement, but he felt strangely numb. It was as if his mind was simply refusing to process the severity of the situation.

"Hyuuga, I'm assuming you're here, 'on vacation', because you wish to help. I cannot do anything if I don't understand what is going on." Gaara's voice continued to remain calm and controlled.

They had a bit of a staring contest, Neji trying to see if he could find something in Gaara's expression and Gaara revealing nothing. The only thing he could figure was that all of his years of being Kazekage were enabling him to detach and treat this as he would any other major situation the village would be facing. Then there was the fact that becoming upset or 'freaking out' wasn't constructive and it definitely wouldn't get Hinata back.

Neji motioned to the scroll "I am not entirely sure of the exact details as I was on mission when everything began. What I do know is that Hinata-sama returned, apparently had a routine checkup at the clinic and somehow the council of elders found out. She has been under house arrest since and I have a very good idea of what they could possibly be planning."

"Is the clan leader behind the council on this?"

"I…cannot say for sure," Neji frowned a bit in confusion and thought "he has been…strangely silent about the whole ordeal and has not become personally involved. Not that it would matter in this case. I am not sure if your system is similar to ours but our council can overrule the clan leader if they feel that the situation is desperate enough."

Gaara nodded "The system is similar. I can be overruled if the council believes I am making an unjust decision or one that could damage the village. In that sense, my power is not absolute. If her father is not interfering, it could be because he is waiting for a certain opportunity. It would make sense; sometimes as a leader you realize that some situations require you to wait until there is a good opportunity to turn the tide in your favor. It is something I would do, in any case."

His sister was shaking his head "Gods Gaara, the guy just told you you're going to be a father and you're acting like you guys are talking about the weather." Temari looked very shaken and he wondered briefly what it was she was really afraid of, the baby or him being a father.

The look on Neji's face seemed to indicate that he was slightly with Temari on that one.

Instead of responding to them he opened the scroll and read the contents. According to the scroll, the Hyuuga felt that Gaara had 'contaminated' their heir. Since he had never sent an official 'letter of intent' to be with their heir in a proper relationship, it was being assumed that he had never intended to do the 'honorable thing'. It was definitely heavily insulting in the most polite way possible, claiming that he had basically screwed their heir, left her to dry and they were really, _really_ pissed off about it. They were demanding reparations due to the fact that Hinata could no longer be considered 'eligible' material for a proper political marriage and that this put the Hyuuga in an extremely difficult position, not to mention a 'bastard child' would be regarded as a great shame to their clan name. The amount of money they were asking for was about as much as the price for a small country. It included the stipulation that if he could pay all of it with a formal apology that they would try to 'work on something more agreeable' as long as he 'remained honorable' as a Kage should be and take responsibility for his 'mistake'. If he did not pay, Hinata's fate would be decided by the clan and the child would be taken into their custody and quickly be proclaimed as a Hyuuga to be raised accordingly.

"They are deliberately making it impossible for me to be able to make an attempt to claim Hinata," Gaara observed "This amount is exorbitant, even a daimyo would be strained to procure this sum. I can understand the demand for reparations, but not something like this. Why are they purposefully trying to condemn Hinata and claim…our child?"

_I am going to be a father. I am not angry but if I had known she had not been taking any…it doesn't matter now._

"This is only speculation," Neji began to explain "but as a branch member, it is easy for me to see what they could possibly be planning. A few years back Hiashi-sama merged the main and the branch houses. The only reason it passed was because of the heavy backing he had acquired, trying to overrule the decision wouldn't have been logical if the majority of the main branch supported it." He smiled wryly "I can assure you, not everyone was pleased with this decision. To be honest, I am pretty sure the reason he was so heavily supported was because of his complete and domineering presence within the clan. No one in the main house would want to be on his bad side.

"This is important because it plays into why they would want the child. Hanabi-sama, if Hinata-sama does not take the leadership position, will automatically become heir. This would be a benefit if she believed in the house system, which she does not. However, if the council adopts the child and allows him or her the full benefits of being a part of the leading bloodline, that child could be declared heir."

"You mean they want to take away my brother's baby so they can manipulate and turn her into some sort of puppet?" Temari sounded disgusted "Why would they go so far? I mean, say what you want but they're challenging a Kage here."

"The older a person becomes, the less they believe in change." The Hyuuga said nonchalantly "The longer a tradition has been alive the less people are willing to break it. The reason for the main and branch houses, while definitely unjust and corrupt, is efficient in its own way. If it wasn't efficient, it wouldn't have lasted as long as it did and we Hyuuga have a very long history. Many people believe that without the house system the Hyuuga will become compromised and vulnerable. By having a limited amount of 'pure' Byakugan users it is harder for enemies to steal our talents. If you suddenly abolish that and have every member with a pure bloodline limit without planting the seal, you have basically given the enemy what they want on a silver platter. At least, that is the mindset."

"That's bullshit."

Neji smiled thinly.

"This is just speculation? There is no concrete proof of this." Gaara needed to know.

The Hyuuga shook his head "No, I have no proof; I simply know how their minds work. It's very easy once you're around them long enough. That is why I was upset with the fact that you had contacted no one, if you had at least contacted the Hokage, he could have somewhat become involved. He can't directly involve himself in clan matters but the Hokage could have gotten around that if he could claim that you held good intentions towards Hinata-sama. He cannot ignore another Kage, giving the situation enough importance to give him a loophole. At this point, it is either pay or try to force the council to move in your favor. If they refuse…"

"Temari, contact Kankuro and Baki." He stood "I will need a letter to be sent out immediately to the Hokage announcing my arrival in two day's time. I will need you three to take control while I am gone."

Both of them blinked at him in surprise. "You're gonna go for real, Gaara?" His sister sounded astounded. Unless it was of the utmost importance, a Kage normally never left the village. This was strictly personal and they all knew he would be unable to give a timetable of when he'd return.

"Well," Gaara lifted up Naruto's letter "according to this, the Hokage would appreciate a visit from me. It would be rude if I did not oblige an old friend." Bright green eyes shifted over to the Hyuuga "I have no intentions of paying this sum, but I have every intention of bringing Hinata, and our child, back to this village safely."

And if what Hyuuga Neji said was true, he already had an idea as to how. He didn't like manipulating people, but that didn't mean he wouldn't. For Hinata, there was very little he wouldn't do.

---

They left that morning, Neji claiming that he was more than ready to travel despite having traveled two days straight to get to Suna. Baki had insisted that Gaara at least take two elite shinobi with him, but he had refused. There would be no threat on his life that Konoha could not handle. Neji was to be his escort and that was sufficient protection for the way there.

For the most part, the two of them said little. Until they reached Suna's borders, Gaara had led. After that, Neji had taken the lead. The first night they said not a word to each other, which was fine as Gaara was lost in his own thoughts.

Now that he had a plan to solve their problem, there was little to think on besides the fact that Hinata had left him while pregnant. If he had known, she would not have left, he wouldn't have allowed it. Had she known? Did she know and didn't tell him because she had been afraid of what he would do? If she hadn't known, how did she feel now? Four months had passed, meaning that Hinata was either five or six months along already. Those months were gone, months where they could have dealt with the situation together, where he could have…

_I am going to be a father._

If she had an idea of what was going on, she was probably terrified for herself and the child. How long had she been sitting there afraid? Did she know her cousin had left to find him or did she believe that he was still in the dark? What if they had told her that he had abandoned her? That they had informed him of the baby and he had decided to break all ties? She would be devastated. If she was under house arrest, were they allowing her to see a doctor? Were they making sure she was healthy?

There were so many questions and emotions moving through him that he felt like he had no other choice but to act unemotional about it all. He no longer felt numb, now he felt so many things he could not tell where what began and ended. The fact that Hinata was pregnant was an accident; neither of them had been trying to go for something like that. He had believed that as a medical nin she had access to contraceptives, obviously _something_ went wrong there.

He did reason that he should have also used protection, but the fact that she was pregnant was not as devastating to him as it seemed to be to everyone else who had heard. Oh, it was _shocking_, he couldn't deny that, there really wasn't too much else he could think of that was more shocking from 'she's pregnant' besides 'your village has been destroyed'. They were pretty much almost on the same level concerning 'Things That Shock the Hell Out of People'.

What it boiled down to was that being upset about the baby would be the same as regretting, and he did not regret anything he had done with Hinata. He loved Hinata and in doing so had expressed himself the best way he had known how: physically. He was not a poet and he was not a romantic, he was practical and stoic. Now that she was gone, he did have a different perspective over things and the only thing he regretted was not telling her how he felt. With everything happening the way it was his initial fears of confessing his love being the same as making himself vulnerable seemed trivial. She had loved him unconditionally and he had hesitated, a part of him afraid of being hurt. Now there was a very good chance that those people could have convinced Hinata that he had abandoned her, simply because he hadn't been able to get over that one fear.

So yes, Gaara was definitely affected by it all, the thoughts were consuming him. If he had stayed in Suna and had Temari or Kankuro go in his stead, he would have been useless to his people. He needed Hinata as much as she needed him. _He _had to be the one to bring her home, no one else.

The second night Neji finally approached him. The Kazekage, ever the insomniac, hadn't even bothered to set up his tent, choosing instead to stand and look out in the distance. Before he retired for bed, Neji spoke.

"What do you plan to do if you do manage to win Hinata-sama back?" It was an honest question, one that Gaara felt the other man deserved to know.

"If she agrees, I will marry her. Immediately." He didn't turn to face Neji and Neji didn't try to confront him face to face.

"…Do you love my cousin?"

He didn't even hesitate. "Yes."

The slight tension that had been in the air between them lifted. "That was all I needed to know."

They said no more until they reached the village.

----

"Holy crap you came! You really showed up!"

Naruto pulled Gaara into a 'man-hug', to which he had returned lightly, unused to such displays of affection. He should have expected it, but had been years since he had last seen the now-Hokage.

Neji had departed, heading for his apartment, leaving Gaara alone with Naruto. There was one other person in the office, or rather, two. Inuzuka was the name if he remembered correctly, with his 'white' dog named 'Akamaru'. There was supposed to be a reason why he had named his dog a separate color from what he was but Gaara couldn't quite remember and since it had little to do with Hinata, didn't care.

If the tension between himself and Neji had been a little thick, the tension in the air between this Inuzuka and himself was massive. The other man was very angry and all of that anger was directed at him. It was confusing, because he didn't even really know this man, but once again since it did not involve Hinata he dismissed it.

"Yes, I left as soon as I could."

"Yeah, four months later." The Inuzuka. Somehow this man was connected to Hinata and was aware of the situation. Ex-teammate perhaps? Ex…boyfriend…

_Hinata said she had never been with anyone before and had only loved Naruto. No, not an ex-boyfriend._

Naruto being Naruto wasn't going to let that slide. "Kiba, that's way out of line, man. Gaara didn't know alright?" In an attempt to change the subject "So, didja get how sweet I worded that letter? I wanted to make sure that if anyone got to it they wouldn't be able to figure it out."

"No one could have figured out that letter without being told." Gaara looked at him "I only figured it out once Hyuuga Neji stormed into my office days later."

The Hokage looked put out "Aw, man really? I thought for sure…well whatever." Just like that he was back to normal "Anyway, now that you're here, you got a plan? I'm one hundred and ten percent behind whatever you decide to do. I can't wait to stuff it to those stiffs; they've been pissing me off for months now."

Kiba growled "Which wouldn't have happened if someone had given a damn enough to…"

Naruto's gaze immediately snapped to the Inuzuka, frowning. "Look man, if you can't handle escorting Gaara around right I'll…"

Gaara would rather not _have_ an escort if this was the case, but he remained silent.

"Whatever." Kiba stood up, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I got it Naruto," which was an outright lie and Gaara and Kiba knew it. There was _going_ to be a confrontation, possibly a bit more violent than the one with Neji.

"So Gaara, you got a plan right? Tell me you got a plan because I'm fresh out of ideas and I can't stand the fact that they got Hinata locked up like this."

The Kazekage looked at the man Hinata had first loved. Like before, when Naruto had told him the story about the girl who had loved him, he looked…sad. A mixture of sadness and helplessness except now it was for different reasons. The first time was because he had to end up hurting someone he considered a good friend; this time because she was in pain and he could do nothing for her.

"Yes, I do have a plan. Unfortunately, I don't know if it will work, but I will definitely need your help and I believe if this is done right an opportunity will present itself to someone which will guarantee our success."

His plan required three players and one of them wouldn't even realize he was in the game. This plan heavily depended on Hyuuga Hiashi and Gaara had absolutely no idea how the man truly felt about his daughter. All he could do was hope and assume his suspicions were correct.

If not, he would lose Hinata and their child.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

The Hyuuga were stalling. Three days had passed since his arrival and they were giving him and the Hokage the run around concerning an official meeting. He wasn't sure what they were trying to do, perhaps they were trying to make him angry and thusly make a mistake in their favor? A basic tactic, but not one that would work on him. Gaara could be enraged and no one save those few people close to him would ever be able to tell the difference. He would not slip up, he could not afford to.

Kiba had escorted Gaara, quietly, to his suite. The Kazekage was pretty sure that the moment Kiba was off 'escort duty' he would come to personally give Gaara a piece of his mind. With his temperament, possibly even his fist. It really wasn't something the redhead needed at the moment, but on the third day when Kiba knocked – pounded - on his door, he knew it was time.

"I take it you are no longer my escort." Gaara wanted to get straight to the point. He had already danced around Neji, the council was dancing around him, and he wasn't going to do it with this guy. Sometimes he wished Konoha shinobi were direct like Suna, it was never difficult for him to know what was going on with his subordinates, they made sure he knew somehow or another.

"No, I'm not. Shikamaru is." His eyes narrowed "We need to have a chat."

"Speak then."

Kiba bristled at him, obviously having expected Gaara to invite him in or have them 'take it outside'. He just wasn't in the mood for that today.

He wasn't showing it but that didn't mean that Gaara wasn't in a bad mood. He was. It increased each day those people held Hinata prisoner in their estate.

"Why the hell are you here?" Gaara just stared at him, because if it wasn't a rhetorical question, he was going to treat it as one. This only further enraged the Inuzuka and he tried again to get some sort of answer – and Gaara suspected reaction – out of him. "Naruto says you didn't know what was going on until recently, you never thought to check? I mean, if the girl I loved suddenly didn't contact me for months I wouldn't have just sat there and waited for someone to come and give me an update. I think you're just here because you feel guilty that you knocked her up and you wanna look responsible about it. Hinata doesn't need that, so if –"

"Why I didn't write is something between Hinata and myself." He cut off "It did not mean I was not worried."

"You're doing a helluva great job _showing_ it."

"I am here, aren't I?"

They locked into a staring contest, something Gaara was very good at and he was sure he had much more patience than Kiba.

"What do you get out of this huh?" Kiba was the first to turn away, but he wasn't done lashing out "What, are you here because you don't want your reputation ruined now that you know Hinata's pregnant?" Kiba grabbed Gaara's shirt and he allowed it, keeping his expression blank "Where the hell have you been the past four months while my friend's been sitting in there _rotting_ away?"

"I am not that concerned for my reputation and I've been in Suna, admittedly, ignorant of the situation."

Gaara realized that two things were about to happen depending on how Kiba decided to react. One, Kiba would explode verbally at him because he was getting too angry over the fact that Gaara was remaining calm. Two, he was probably going to lash out physically and Gaara would end up having to explain to Naruto why one of his shinobi was in the hospital. He could not afford to get injured right now.

"What the hell is _with_ you?!" Came the eventual explosion "You talk about it like it's no big fucking deal, this is my _friend_ we're talking about! I've known Hinata a helluva lot longer than you, she deserves a lot more than your blank expressions and total lack of giving a shit."

Pausing for too long would make the Inuzuka get physical, so Gaara would be unable to word himself carefully. "Hinata," a stream of sand slid between them before erupting, forcing Kiba to let him go. "fell in love with me despite the fact that I am like this."

Kiba was still trying to get the sand out of his eyes "You bastard…"

"If you want to know how I'm feeling, you only need to ask. I consider everyone in Konoha allies; I have no reason to keep secrets, especially not concerning this. I am this way because when I was a host for Shukaku, having anything less than complete self control over my emotions would result in the people I wanted to protect being killed by my hands. I don't really care whether or not you believe I love Hinata, your approval isn't necessary. The _only_ person's approval I want is Hinata's, and she has already given me that."

"Goddamn it," when he finally cleared his eyes he glared at Gaara, not knowing if he wanted to strike or not. "Damn it, do you love her or not?! Just answer that fucking question."

He wondered how many times he would be asked this before he departed the village. "Yes."

That seemed to be the answer he was looking for all along, but it didn't mean that he believed it. Kiba seemed placated, but not convinced, of Gaara's intentions. It was understandable since he didn't really know them. When Gaara had discussed his plan with Naruto, Kiba had been asked to leave.

There was something else there in the Inuzuka's eyes; something beneath the anger and concern for his friend. Briefly, Gaara wondered if this man actually held deeper feelings for Hinata. That look in his eyes was too similar to his own when he was jealous.

The dog man…growled at him. "Fine, whatever. But I swear to the gods if you –"

"Kiba? What the hell?"

Nara. Never had his voice sounded so wonderful to hear.

"Sup, Shikamaru." The dog-man shoved his hands into his pockets and glared at the shadow user as if daring him to challenge why he was there.

Shikamaru really didn't seem to care why Kiba was there, so he turned to Gaara "Hey, Naruto told me to come get you, the Hyuuga are ready to see you now. He's heading there as we speak."

"Only took the bastards three damn days." Kiba muttered and no one bothered to argue.

"Anyway, you ready? Or do you need a few minutes?"

In a fluid motion, Gaara shrugged on his gourd which had been sitting by the door. Secure, he walked out of the suite and let Nara lead the way.

--------

Naruto was already there and seated in the meeting room by the time the two of them arrived. The Kazekage would have entered the room a little earlier but had been delayed due to one of the Hyuuga guards trying to get Gaara to leave his gourd behind.

"It stays with me." His tone left no room for argument.

The guard eventually went to inform Hiashi and returned looking sheepish, avoiding Gaara's gaze. He was allowed in without any further delays.

"I'll be waiting out here," Nara told him when they reached the main estate. He pulled out a cigarette. The Kazekage raised a curious eyebrow.

"I thought you told Temari you were quitting."

Dark eyes slid over to the Kazekage "I quit when I'm with her."

Gaara mentally shrugged. It wasn't his problem and it wouldn't be his funeral when Temari did eventually find out.

A plainly dressed Hyuuga with no real outstanding features bowed and led the Kazekage to the room where the others were waiting. When they arrived at the door white eyes looked up at him.

"Hiashi-sama requests that the Kazekage please leave his gourd outside of the meeting room. He believes that this is a suitable compromise."

It was. Gaara removed his gourd and placed it to the side and the woman – he hadn't been too sure until she had spoken – bowed respectfully. Kneeling, she slid open the door for him and he walked inside.

The tension in this room could have been sliced with a kunai it was so thick. It was just large enough to house the council, the clan leader, and only several other guests. The lack of space made the room look quite imposing, which was probably the point, to make the other person feel inferior. The room was very traditional; all of the council members and Hiashi were sitting on large pillows, the clan leader being in the front and center of the group. There was a low table which held a small bamboo plant and a sake set. Probably a way of trying to seem polite; the sake being there to promote that the meeting would have a successful conclusion.

Naruto clearly stood out in the room of dark, stoic Hyuuga. For one, he was sitting on the pillow inappropriately, not even trying to sit with any sort of poise. Gaara was sure that a lot of it was simply because it was Naruto and a bit of it being his way of showing that they weren't going to intimidate him.

He almost smiled.

"We welcome you, Kazekage, to our home." Hiashi and the others bowed respectfully as Gaara sat down. "I apologize for the fact that this meeting could not have been held sooner, we understand that your time is precious."

The Kazekage returned the bow politely "It was expected that I would possibly be here longer than reasonably expected for a Kage," he explained "I was put at no inconvenience, but I am grateful you were able to find the time to fit me into your schedule."

_That_ made every single Hyuuga stiffen and the obvious verbal slap he had just delivered. He hadn't done it to watch them squirm, it had been strictly political. It was a reminder of who exactly they were dealing with and how they had, basically, snubbed him. No other person of high rank would have tolerated it, so he, a Kage, could not either. It was a polite reprimand, but a reprimand nonetheless.

He didn't have to look at Naruto to know the man was grinning from ear to ear. Subtlety had never been one of the Hokage's s strong points and Naruto was going to openly enjoy this.

_This is what happens when you mess with people's friends and loved ones._ He was sure that was what the Hokage was thinking right now.

"If we may be so bold, Kazekage-sama, we would like to know why exactly you are here." The person who spoke up was an elderly woman, her eyes so white she really did look blind. "Have you come in response to the scroll we had sent to you?"

Pale green eyes took in the woman impassively. "That is not specifically why I am here, although I can address my answer to that, if you wish."

"If you are not here to 'specifically' discuss the reparations we've requested, we find ourselves slightly confused on what other reason you could possibly have." The woman made some sort of face that only made her look more like a mummy than a living person.

"I have come here, specifically, to retrieve my future wife and child and bring them back to Suna, where they will reside." He deadpanned.

Did Hiashi's lips just twitch?

"Outrageous!" Another elder called out "You have no right and no claim to the heir of this clan and you ignored any and every method of acquiring her properly."

He wanted to point out that Hinata wasn't a 'thing' to be bartered, but it would be lost on them, as it would be any other political family.

"As a Kage we are sure you understand the proper methods of courting someone of Hinata's station," another elderly female "Impregnating her and sending her back here only to collect her at your convenience is not what we would consider proper courting."

He didn't even flinch. "I would agree, if that was what had actually transpired. I will not deny that becoming intimate with your heir without first consulting the clan was a mistake on my part. To imply that I 'sent her back' is inaccurate; she is a Konoha shinobi and had already extended her time in my village by three weeks. If I had kept her within my lands, it would have been seen as a hostile action. She left, as agreed by the mission she had been given, but it had been agreed between the two of us that she would return to be with me."

"_We_ should have been notified first." The same male from earlier. "What, did you believe that just because our heir was in your village that you could do as you wished?"

Gaara blinked once. "I did not believe anything, that was what happened."

Oh yes, he was definitely making them angry.

"If you can admit to that and to your other shortcomings, you can admit that the payment for the scandal this clan has ended up having to deal with is fair."

Green eyes looked at the speaker blandly. "It is not fair, it is extortion. I am not entirely sure how much you believe your clan to be worth, but I am not paying the amount you receive in twenty years of income. If you wish for me to pay for the mistake I made monetarily that is understandable. As long as the amount is not ridiculous, I will pay from my personal funds. I am not, however, paying for anything else and I do not intend to leave this land without Hinata."

"You have no right to request anything of us when you've acted disgracefully as a Kage," the first woman "You do not deserve our heir and if you will not agree to our demands we will commence with the other stipulation listed. Hinata's fate will be decided by the clan and the child to be taken into custody once born." Her gaze slid over to the Hokage "You cannot interfere in this Hokage-sama, the Kazekage forfeited all support you could have given him when he disgraced both himself and our heir and clan."

Naruto shrugged which caught them off guard. "Whatever."

Gaara looked each and every one of the council members in the eye "_My_ child will belong to me. Subsequently, since the child is still with its mother; that means I will be taking her as well. I am offering you payment for my rudeness by not courting her properly, I would strongly suggest you take it and allow Hinata to come with me or else I will be forced to take more drastic measures to get my point across." His tone was purposefully low and threatening.

"How _dare_ you threaten us!" The council was in an uproar now, many of them barely containing the urge to yell and throw insults at him. "You come here make demands of us and now you threaten us with war?"

How typical and sadly predictable. He had not mentioned anything of a war but of course political figures were always quick to jump to that conclusion. It was amazing how easily they had slipped into his trap. "I do not threaten. This is something I will do if you do not come to an agreeable compromise."

"Whoa, hey there Gaara…" Naruto sat up at that, looking a little hesitant "C'mon now man, I know you really wanna get Hinata back but…" he raised his hands nervously "We've been buds for a long time right? Years even. I'm sure we can work this out…" he looked at the council "Right guys? I mean, war is a little extreme…"

"We will not bend to the threats of this outsider, Kage or no!" The original male, one Gaara was pegging as the possible leader, stood up. He was shaking with rage, his normally pale face bright red "We Hyuuga are a proud and honorable clan and Konoha's shinobi are more than capable of handling whatever you can push at us, we've done so before in case you haven't forgotten. Hinata will remain here and no amount of threatening will change that!"

"To allow Hinata to leave in the hands of someone so dishonorable would be a disservice to her and to the clan." The woman again. He wondered if the two were possibly married. They easily played off each other.

"That is unfortunate," Gaara said calmly "You have forced my hand…"

"And _mine_." Naruto chimed in, grinning "Sorry guys but as Hokage, I can't step in on clan business, but this is waaay bigger than the clan now. You guys are dragging the village into it and I damn sure have a say in that. I'm invoking my right as Hokage to directly intervene to come to a peaceful solution."

"I also do not wish a war," Hiashi spoke up finally, having been quiet almost the entire meeting. "If the Hokage is becoming personally involved, the ultimate decision as to what happens with Hinata belongs to Hokage and myself. No one else may overrule or intervene." His gaze locked on Gaara "Forgive the council, Kazekage-sama, you may feel that they are being unreasonable but we are Hyuuga and we _do_ have a reputation and standards to uphold. The council's duties are to ensure that such things remain intact and as such, they take their duties to the Hyuuga very seriously. However, by allowing the situation to escalate to this degree is something the council should _avoid_ so to that, I give my humblest apologies." He bowed low and the other council members had no choice but to follow.

Gaara returned Hiashi's bow respectfully "I also do not wish war, but as I said, I will not leave without Hinata."

Inwardly, Gaara was pleased that Hiashi had reacted the way he thought he would. It had been a major gamble on his part, if Hiashi had agreed with the council; it would have been the same as calling his bluff. Gaara wasn't going to go to war, Hinata wouldn't want that. In that sense, he would have truly lost the battle and would have had to seriously consider either giving up or eventually trying to kidnap her and the child, causing a huge uproar.

"Well then, if that's the way it's gonna be, we only need you, me, and Hiashi here right?" Naruto counted off on his fingers "Everyone else can _get out_."

Hiashi nodded "Yes, this meeting needs only be discussed with those participating. The council has been dismissed by the Hokage."

With the final word of the clan leader, the council members stood. They bowed low to the Kazekage and Hokage individually before departing but every single last one of them looked very angry. Gaara figured he probably wouldn't be invited to any family reunions in the future.

With everyone gone Naruto let out a shaky breath. "Holy shit Gaara, I know that was part of the plan but…you looked so serious I thought you were really gonna do it. Declare war and all that. I was really panicking man. You didn't twitch or anything. I think I saw you blink like, once."

The clan leader smiled thinly "I also believed you. We Hyuuga are known to be good at reading individuals and personally, I believed myself to be quite skilled in the art. I could not and still cannot read anything from you."

Gaara closed his eyes briefly. "As long as I am alive and Kazekage, Suna will forever remain allies with Konoha. I am only thankful that you did not call my bluff."

"Yeah, me too." Naruto said in relief "I gotta hand it to ya Hiashi, when I was a kid I _hated_ you because I thought you were mean to Hinata but I guess I was wrong about that."

"Regardless of how…strict I had been with Hinata growing up, she is still my daughter and I still care for her." He looked at the Kazekage "First, I must ask if you were serious about your claim of wanting to make Hinata your wife."

"I was."

"I will allow Hinata to leave and I am sure the Hokage will take the necessary steps to ensure when she does she is not reported as a missing nin. My only stipulation is that my daughter is not to leave here legally single. You will marry her. Immediately. You admitted to the mistake of not properly courting her, prove to me that you are willing to take responsibility." He turned to Naruto "Hinata is denounced as heir as of today, my daughter Hanabi will officially take her place. She will remain welcome to the Hyuuga grounds and by extension, her future husband the Kazekage and his family. That is my decision."

"I'm cool with that," Naruto looked to Gaara "Well, she'll always be a Konoha shinobi but I can't let her leave permanently and still be on the rosters. She can keep her forehead protector but her status of shinobi will be revoked starting today I guess…you gonna let her become a Suna shinobi?"

The redhead nodded "If that is what she would like. The hospital staff have taken a great liking to Hinata, if she wishes to continue her path as a medical nin she is more than welcome to do so and due to her skills and contributions she will be given a position accordingly. If she agrees, she will also keep her status of jounin. The conditions of the Hyuuga are acceptable; although I am sure Hinata would want an actual wedding."

The Hokage laughed "Yeah it's like, every girl's dream to be a bride or something. Me and Sakura have talked over some stuff and already I can tell she's gonna be a bridezilla." He gave Gaara an envious look "You're lucky, Hinata will probably be all nice and want something simple while Sakura is gonna send me to the poor house."

"I would prefer to have the legal issues taken care of as soon as possible;" Hiashi interrupted, still smiling thinly "however, a ceremony is not out of the question. As the father of the bride, I will be responsible for the funds." He turned to Naruto "Hokage-sama, how early would you be able to legalize their marriage?"

Blue eyes blinked at Hiashi blankly before squinting in thought."Uh, an hour I guess. Two tops. I'd hafeta get the paperwork and grab that speech thingie because I can never remember all of how it goes. I made sure my schedule was cleared for the rest of the day so I'm all yours."

From there they went over the other finer details and ensured the compromise was fully listed, stipulations and all, on three scrolls. Each one to be signed by all three of them and one scroll for each member. It was mostly for official purposes, the Hokage having to make sure that no one could renege on whatever was discussed. With that the meeting was officially over. The three men stood and agreed to meet back within the hour. Naruto left to go get the paperwork and said he would also be making a few calls around to help with the wedding. "Ino's totally gonna wanna get in on the flower thing!" He had said. Hiashi told him he would take the Kazekage to see Hinata.

"People of our station do not normally have the luxury of marrying for love," Hiashi told him "Hinata is no exception. When she leaves, we will claim that it was a political marriage."

A brief nod. "I understand."

"I do not think I need to ask how you feel about my daughter, you have already shown that. I only ask as a father concerned for his daughter that you continue to fight for her and treasure her as you've done today."

"You have my word."

Thankfully, Hinata wasn't in some prison or dungeon as he had feared. In fact, she was actually in her bedroom, a guard stationed at her door. Hiashi excused the man and opened the door to let Gaara inside.

She was as beautiful as he remembered, no, even more so. She was wearing her normal clothes so he actually couldn't tell if Hinata was showing or not. When he entered their gazes locked. Her eyes widened and her face flushed. Unshed tears threatened to spill but she still gave him one of her brightest smiles.

"You're here…" Slowly she stood up from the bed and began to take tentative steps toward him. In two strides he closed the distance and the next second she was in his arms. He felt it then, a hard lump where had once been flat. It wasn't huge, which led him to believe that she wasn't six months gone. "I can't believe I'm looking at you…touching you I…"

"You are coming home with me," he said softly against her hair and she did begin to cry. His grip tightened around her, and he let out a sigh. When she had been gone the absence had been agonizing. Now that he had her in his arms it felt as if she had never left. "You and our child."

She shot back in his arms, her eyes wide, her hands covering her mouth "Th-they told you?"

"Yes," her uneasy silence spoke volumes to him "you knew before you left." When she nodded he pulled her closer "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well…it was more like I had suspected," came the admission "I began feeling ill all of a sudden and I couldn't cook certain things without feeling like gagging. It happened in the mornings, so you didn't notice because either I'd be gone or you'd be gone. Kaede-san thought I was and had offered to let me take a test but I…I had been too scared. When I got back I asked Tsunade-sama to test me and she confirmed it. I, um, still don't know how everyone found out so quickly but before I knew it I had been put under house arrest and forbidden to have any further contact with you." She looked ready to cry again "I…missed you…I was so worried you would think I had given up and I'd never see you again."

Gaara continued to hold her and her small sobs eventually turned into quiet little sniffles. She looked up at him "You…you're not angry?"

"No." he smiled slightly "I am slightly curious about the type of contraceptives you used, but I am not angry."

"T…that was…" she looked down "I had um, made a very terrible mistake." When he frowned slightly she shook her head "The herbal remedy I normally take for that…I had been mixing the ingredients incorrectly. When I realized I was pregnant I didn't understand it because I took it daily. It um, it turned out the mixture I was using was for menstrual cramps."

"…I see." For some reason he found that inappropriately hilarious and ironic so he kept his face completely neutral.

Pearl orbs scanned his face carefully, worried. "You're really not angry or upset or…you don't want me to give up the baby?"

Confusion flickered for a moment. "No. I don't regret the time I've spent with you or the result of that." He gave her a serious look, his eyes hooded. "I will admit that I am somewhat afraid, because I'm not…like others. True love was not something I experienced as a child. I will not have any positive experiences for them from that time and I do not wish to become like my father. I am afraid of that the most."

Her hands slid up to frame his face "Gaara…you don't need to be anyone but you." Her eyes were bright and her smile was warm "You are…an amazing person. Y-you make me laugh and you make me f-feel cherished and when I'm with you I feel as if I'm truly beautiful. A-and where we're together, just the two of us, I too have a difficult time controlling myself. I think that, being the person you are, you will work hard to make sure the baby knows that they're loved and happy and that's…I think that's all you really need."

"Hn." He smiled softly at her. Because he had to, his hand slipped underneath her jacket to rest on the growing mound of her stomach. It was such an alien thing to him, pregnancy. Underneath her swelling belly was a life steadily growing as a result of their love making. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around the fact that _he_ had helped create a life. He had taken many lives, easily. Just as easily, he had created a life.

_I did not think it was possible for someone like me to do something so profound. This person will also need me, truly need me._

There really wasn't anything more he could ask for, and it was all more than what he felt he deserved.


	12. Chapter 12

AN: Holy crap, almost 100 reviews for this story and over 100 for The Debut and one of them has only been up for a month or so (The Debut doesn't count, even though I started from scratch a few months ago). I am shocked. Amazed. Honored. I know there's folks that have like, hundreds on their stuff but I'm happy breaking the 3 digit mark for the first time on here. Thanks so much everyone! It's an honor knowing that people enjoy my writing and I hope to keep being able to churn out fics for a while longer. I has lotsa ideas.

**Chapter Twelve**

"W-where are we going?"

Shortly after their reunion Naruto emerged with news that the paperwork would be ready and delivered within the hour. Then he grinned his huge Naruto grin, grabbed both of them by the wrist and pulled them kicking and screaming – not really although Gaara did look a little annoyed at his reunion being interrupted - out of the Hyuuga estate and was heading for the main part of the village.

"Weeellll…." Naruto said, giving them a somewhat creepy look "We got time to kill right? And well, you can't get married without rings sooo…."

"What?" Hinata was completely confused "Naruto-kun what…"

They stopped in the middle of the street and Naruto blinked at them "Huh? Gaara, you didn't tell her?"

"I've been with her for five minutes." He deadpanned.

She looked at Gaara then at Naruto, then at Gaara, Naruto and finally resting on Gaara "Married?"

The Kazekage nodded. "Your father agreed to let you return to the village with me only if you left here legally married."

"Yeah Hina, you shoulda seen him in that meeting, he kicked so much ass fighting for you!" the Hokage's face lit up in amusement a little bit of admiration "Your dad really came through too, I can't _believe_ Gaara's plan worked so perfectly!"

"We're getting married?" She was still trying to get past that part. Even though they had promised to be together, she hadn't wanted to push the subject of marriage because he had never mentioned it. Part of it was also the fear that she would be pushing him too fast too soon. When it came to their relationship it seemed that Hinata was the one jumping head first with Gaara lingering in the back, wanting to take things slower. Once he decided to cross that threshold, however, he was in it all the way.

"You can say no if you want." It was calm and collected but she saw the guarded look in his eyes.

"Um, t-that's not really it. Do you…do you want to do this?"

His head tilted slightly and he gave her a look. "I do not do anything I don't wish to do."

"See see? Gaara, you're so cool like that…" Naruto grinned again "Gaara never even _hesitated_ at the meeting. When Hiashi asked him if he lo-"

"Naruto."

The blonde's mouth snapped shut and he looked at Gaara curiously "Sup man?"

The redhead gave him a look "I want to tell her that part of the story myself."

"Oh." A sly look slid on his face "Oh _I see_, it's _like that_. Hey that's cool too, whatever you want. But we're still gonna get you guys rings, so c'mon!"

"Gaara, what is Naruto-kun talking about?" She asked as they continued walking, staying a little behind Naruto to whisper.

He briefly explained the meeting to her and gave her a somewhat short summary of the agreement reached. Listening to it all, she couldn't even believe that had happened. Naruto, Gaara, and her father all cooperating so that they could be together.

And marriage! Not that it wasn't what she wanted, far from it, she was just so surprised that Gaara had agreed so readily, 'without hesitation' Naruto had said. And to top it all off, she was still to be considered a part of the family; she could always come and visit her cousin, sister, and everyone.

The biggest shocker to her had been his reaction over her being pregnant. He had seemed…calm. He had admitted that he was afraid of not being able to be a good father but beyond that he seemed totally unbothered by the fact that they were going to have a child.

_Well, maybe he had had time to think about it and accept it. I mean, he came all this way and fought for me…so the marriage thing seems understandable too but…_

She honestly couldn't believe all of this was happening. Ten months ago she had been single and hadn't really felt as if she could see herself in any sort of relationship. Now she was getting married and was five months pregnant. This was not exactly how she had imagined her life at twenty three, none of this would have ever been planned out in her head. Before Gaara had arrived she had been terrified for herself and her unborn child, the elders had constantly tormented her about how they would take the child and she'd never see him or her again. She had been so miserable these past four months, now it all seemed like some distant dream.

Hinata had never asked Gaara if he loved her. Mostly because she felt she already knew the answer in her heart. Gaara didn't speak much; he paused a lot as if thinking of what to say and would allow conversations to just drop by not responding. He never said anything he didn't mean and he never did anything he didn't want to do. Outwardly, he was also emotionally detached, or it looked that way. Having been intimate with him, she understood that he was a very passionate and even sensitive individual. He still bore a lot of scars from his past and they came out in little ways here and there. He genuinely enjoyed her company and desired her. Hinata had learned that Gaara expressed himself physically, although if you asked him something he would answer it honestly, not caring if it was embarrassing for him or not. Through touches and kisses and looks and even lovemaking, that was how he tried to communicate his feelings. The fact that he had come here was proof enough for her, trying to get a verbal confirmation from him didn't seem necessary at this point.

"Hinata," his soft voice broke her from her thoughts "tonight, will you stay at the suite with me?"

She giggled, wrapping her arms around one of his and leaning against him. "Well, if we're going to be married by tonight, I think I kind of have to sleep where you sleep."

He leaned against her lightly. "I haven't been able to sleep since you left."

Oh, how she loved this man and his honesty. "I won't be going anywhere again, not unless you're with me." Her hand slid down to his and she laced their fingers together. To her surprise, he squeezed her hand once and then refused to let go until they reached the jewelry shop.

It was late in the evening and so when they arrived, the store had been closing.

"We can come back tomorrow…" she had offered but Naruto wasn't hearing it.

"C'mon Hina, you gotta have rings! I'll ask them if they can make an exception just this once and let us look."

Of course they weren't going to say "No" to the_ Hokage,_ so all three of them were ushered in and the seller's smiles were so bright she almost thought they were genuine.

_Then again, if the Hokage is here they probably think he's going to spend a lot of money so staying open isn't such a big deal._ _I wonder what would happen if Naruto-kun told them that Gaara is the Kazekage?_

What happened was that they all practically gushed with 'honor and pride' that not one, but two Kage's had decided to come to _their_ store out of all the others. Naruto had explained to them that he had actually purchased Sakura's ring here and he had really liked how nice they had been to him and how helpful.

They did not disappoint. Hinata and Gaara were sat down and questions were asked. Did they want yellow gold or white gold? Bridal set or something simple? Diamonds or colored stones? What shape did they want the stone? Did the groom want any stones in his ring? Any engravings? If diamonds how high quality where they willing to go? Did they want colored diamonds, they had those as well…

It was _mind boggling_ and she was glad to see that Gaara seemed just as lost as she was. Eventually he ended up just giving everyone a blank stare at each question until they realized it would probably be best to just ask the bride. When she looked up at him he said only one thing.

"I don't care what you decide for me, I will wear it."

In short, "_Let's just get this over with…please"._

Hinata chose white gold because it felt very pristine and elegant to her. She decided on something simple unless they had a bridal set that wasn't too gaudy or elaborate. Diamonds were fine, heart shaped cut please? No stones on the groom's ring, a plain band was fine.

"Whaaaat?" Naruto broke in on that one. "Whaddya mean plain? This is the ring you're going to be wearing for the rest of your life, get something awesome!"

Hinata sighed. She loved her friend. She really did. But his fashion sense was _horrible_ and that extended to his taste in rings. The ring he had tried to pick out for Gaara had been too much for words, Hinata hadn't even been able to keep a straight face and resorted to having to hide her smile with her hand.

Gaara's expression did not change from it's normal blankness, but he did look at her "Hinata, I am not wearing that." Was all her future husband had said.

He ignored Naruto's comments on how Gaara had just said he'd wear anything Hinata picked out, then proceeded to try and convince Hinata to agree on the 'super awesome' ring for Gaara. Realizing that if he didn't actually make a decision that Naruto probably wouldn't give up; he leaned forward and pointed to a band that had a very simple but nice design to it.

"Compromise." His voice left no real room for argument.

Well, it wasn't plain so Naruto couldn't fuss too much. He let Gaara off the hook even though he still thought _his_ ring choice had been cooler.

While the two had been debating on Gaara's ring Hinata had actually found something that caught her eye. The band was more solid than a normal wedding ring but it held a sort of wave design that moved around a heart shaped diamond. The accompanying ring was more simplistic, a curved band that fit around the ring perfectly. It had been her solid choice until she had looked at the price. The cost was astronomical and there was no way she would ever ask Gaara to buy something like that for her.

He had caught her staring, however, and looked at her when she put the ring away.

"If you like that one, we will get it."

Shaking her head, she smiled nervously. "N-no that's okay. I think another ring would be better."

Something flickered in his eyes. Amusement? "What's wrong with that one?"

"It's…h-hey!"

He plucked the set from where she had set it and pulled it up to examine it. He pulled at the tiny tab which showed the price and the corners of his mouth twitched just a bit.

"I am not poor Hinata." He reminded her, and he _did_ sound amused.

Her face turned a bright red and she fought the urge to fidget "I-I know that but…that's too much. I couldn't ask you to buy something like that for me."

"Do you want it?"

"Well…it is really beautiful but-"

He looked up at the sellers "We're done. We'll take these."

Hinata ended up spluttering a bit before she found coherent words "Y-you can't…it's too expensive Gaara I…"

"Have more than enough money." As if to prove it, he pulled out a small bag and her eyes widened as he pulled a ridiculously large wad of money from it and began counting the amount he owed. She could practically see the imaginary drool dripping from the staff's mouths. Well, Hinata hoped they were going to get a bonus or something with all the money her fiancé just shelled out.

She giggled to herself at the word. He looked at her a bit strangely but she laughed it off and he didn't bother to question her. The entire exchange had surprisingly only taken about thirty minutes, giving them just enough time to make it back to the compound and for her to possibly change into something a bit more flattering than her jacket and pants. There was going to be a ceremony later, but that didn't mean she wanted to look any sort of way for the official vows.

When they returned, Hanabi was waiting for them. When she learned what was going on she became excited, happy that her big sister wasn't going to end up being under the council's thumb and holy crap she was gonna marry the Kazekage? Cool!

Having an extra set of hands while she tried to slip into a dress that was a little tight around the midriff thanks to her growing baby, Hanabi instead suggested one of their mother's kimonos as some of them were a little large from when she had been pregnant. They actually found a white kimono with a beautiful floral pattern and a green obi and quickly got her into that and tied her hair up in a beautiful knot to the side with a few dangling pins to keep it secure. Hanabi had insisted on makeup but Hinata refused; she didn't like wearing it. She figured Gaara probably wouldn't be too thrilled about having lipstick on him either.

Her sister had asked to be present and Hinata couldn't refuse her. She actually wished Neji was around, but she hadn't seen him and it was too late to go and try to locate him at this hour. Well, he would be present at the ceremony hopefully.

The two of them were declared legally married in one of the more decorated rooms of the Hyuuga compound with her sister and father as witnesses. Naruto had kept it pretty short and sweet, mostly because he had forgotten to grab the official speech and couldn't remember all the words. Hiashi hadn't been too pleased with the Hokage's stumbling and ad libbing. The two of them exchanged rings, signed all the necessary documents and Gaara brought his new wife back to his suite.

Instead of starting on their honeymoon right away he had actually pulled her into bed and just…laid there with her. The obi was discarded but she kept the kimono on, smiling when his hand reached underneath and moved over her stomach. His hand moved over her belly as if hoping to feel something kick or move but didn't stop or seem disappointed when nothing happened. Hours went by with them like that, her back to him and his hand moving slowly over her stomach. Right when she was drifting to sleep she heard his voice.

"Hinata?"

"Hm?"

He leaned forward, brushing his lips against her ear and whispered three words to her. She smiled slowly.

"I know."

-----

The Kazekage did think on the morning after making their vows that his wife would probably become annoyed if he kept paying too much attention to her stomach. Not that it stopped him; he just made a mental note of the fact that he had been considerate of it.

He couldn't keep his hands away from there; it was almost like a compulsion. It was so weird remembering her four months ago with a flat stomach and now there was something _there_ and he felt like a child with a stick poking at something weird yet fascinating. And it was weird, the baby. It wasn't really doing much right now –a few movements but not often - although Hinata said the baby should become active very soon. When he pressed his ear to her stomach he could hear the tiny heartbeat inside and it was just _weird_ to him. Not a bad weird, just weird.

Hinata didn't seem to mind the fact that she had something _alive_ inside of her body. For the moment, she also didn't seem to mind his attentions being so focused on their baby. She had smiled at him and had been very happy that he didn't consider her 'fat' due to the weight gain. Gaara didn't quite understand women and their worries over weight; he liked the fact that Hinata was already curvier than the average female. He would not find her less attractive if she kept on weight after she gave birth.

For the most part, he couldn't really tell if Hinata was as different as people claimed pregnant women could be. She seemed just as emotional and affectionate as always. Kankuro had warned him before he left about the 'hells of pregnant females and the poor sap attached to her' but he couldn't imagine a hysterical or angry Hinata. He supposed he would find out, since she still had about four more months to go.

When Hinata finally stirred awake she had looked over at him and the Kazekage's thought processes quickly came to a halt. By the time rational thought returned to him a while later the two of them were tangled together in the sheets, exhausted but sated. Lazily he watched as she lifted her hand, looking at the ring on her finger.

"Gaara?"

"Hm?" He began to plant kisses on her neck, breathing in her flowery scent. He loved the way she smelled and tasted.

Realizing that he was distracted, she turned in his arms so that her hand was now resting on his cheek. Satisfied that she now had his full attention she continued "Thank you. For everything. For being with me and coming here and fighting for me and the baby…and for loving me. There's so much more I want to say but I can't express them in words."

He didn't feel that he deserved her praise so he said nothing. Gaara had done what he needed to do, which was have Hinata back in his life. He didn't believe that made him a good person, but it definitely made him a selfish one. If anything, he was the thankful one, for in her he had truly found complete acceptance and love. For someone like him, with his past, someone like her was nothing short of a miracle and he would never feel truly worthy of her.

A knock on their door ended the moment. Hinata froze and looked a mixture of alarmed and confused. Gaara almost smiled at her, obviously she was forgetting that she was married now and so being in the Kazekage's bed wasn't a big deal.

He reluctantly slid out of bed as the second knock came, more insistent this time. Sliding on his discarded pants he strode over to the door.

Yellow rushed past him in a blur. A woman with long blonde hair let herself into the room looking as if she were on a mission. Hinata cried out in alarm and hurriedly pulled up the skirt she had been changing into. Her top consisted of only a bra.

"I-Ino-chan!"

The woman paused, looking at Hinata and then looking at him, noting his state of undress. A moment of silence passed between the three of them and then she laughed a bit, trying to hide her embarrassed blushing.

"Whoops. Did I come at a bad time?"

Gaara closed the door and strode over to the dresser to grab a shirt. Hinata quickly pulled on her blouse and continued to look highly embarrassed.

Not wanting to take the blame for her outburst Ino put her hands on her hips and Gaara took note of the large bag hanging from her wrist. "Well, it _is_ like, almost one in the afternoon guys, you gotta take a break sometime. I thought you guys had a wedding to plan?"

"Naruto mentioned you last night," the Kazekage observed "something about flower arranging?"

Happy that he knew who she was, Ino walked over to a large, round table in something passable for a dining 'room'. Rooms being a loose term as it was more like a 'space' separated slightly by walls near the kitchen area. Reaching into the bag she pulled out a rather large binder and a few laminated papers. "Yes, that's exactly why I'm here. Naruto told me you guys need it done in a hurry so I'm here to figure out what you want so I can take it from there. It's at your place right Hinata?" when she nodded Ino went on "Well, that probably means I'll just be doing whatever space you decide for a reception. You guys are into that tradition thing so the actual ceremony will be private right? Immediate family members only."

"Um, that's probably what father will do, yes." Hinata gave Gaara a worried look but he wasn't sure what for.

"Okay well…we can still do a bouquet, you _gotta_ have that or else the other girls will feel jilted for not getting the toss up. Well? Get over here Hinata, I can't show you the pictures if you're on the other side of the room."

Since Ino wasn't directly involving him in the decision making he assumed he was not needed and – once again – reluctantly left his wife to go visit the Hokage.

The Hokage allowed him to use an empty room as a temporary office until he left. There wasn't much to do, but Gaara did receive several messages and had to send several messages out, the most notable one about his marriage to Hinata. He sent a few personal ones, one to his siblings and one to Kaede concerning allowing Hinata to work as a medical nin should she decide to do so. A few more messages flew in while he was doing that, but all of it had taken only a few hours.

From there he went to the Hyuuga compound and was granted an audience with Hiashi concerning plans for the wedding and what would be required of him. Since Hinata wasn't there, he assumed that she was probably still with Ino or had been pawned off to another female in the village for 'wedding preparations'. He didn't like the separation, the fact that his wife was not currently by his side bothered him greatly. Gaara would remain silent, however, because the last thing he wanted was to come off as being possessive or give Hinata any stress. She'd had enough of the latter for the past four months.

Hiashi was extremely helpful in educating the Kazekage in regards to a traditional wedding. He learned the actual ceremony was considerably short and little requirements were expected. Since he did not have his own formal dress, Hiashi informed him that Gaara could use his. Little else was exchanged between them but the atmosphere had been light and respectful.

It was decided that the ceremony would take place the next day. All parties involved with handling the reception had confirmed that they would be able to have everything ready in time. If the Kazekage wished, he and his wife could depart immediately following the reception. Gaara had voiced his concerns about allowing Hinata to travel in her condition, but Hiashi and his attendants had assured him that would not be an issue.

Overall his day had actually been eventful, save for earlier in the day when Naruto brought up a bachelor party and was immediately turned down. When he returned to his room it was already dark yet Hinata was not there. Slightly annoyed – mostly at Ino for keeping _his_ wife for so long – but unconcerned, he ended up getting takeout.

When Hinata finally returned it was a little after midnight and she had bags of…stuff. She looked completely worn out and had barely managed to drag herself to the bed and crawl in. Gaara decided to wait until Hinata decided to explain, although at this point he was a _little_ upset.

"I'm so sorry," she curled up next to him and he let her, putting an arm around her shoulders "Ino-chan took me to all these places and dragged me all over the village to tell everyone 'the good news'. Then I found out that she had thrown a surprise party and all of the girls were there. I'm only here now because they're all drunk and I managed to escape." His wife gave him a wry smile "But um, they gave me a lot of gifts, even some baby things so…" she let the sentence trail off. When he didn't respond her expression turned worried "A-are you upset? I should have tried harder to have someone let you know…"

"I'm not upset with you," she winced a bit at the 'with you' part because it still meant that he _was_ upset. "Although I wish your friends had been a little more considerate of your condition. Still, I am sure they had good intentions." He smiled softly at her "I _was_ worried, but that is no longer an issue. Try to get some sleep, the ceremony will be tomorrow and we will both need the energy."

Hinata smiled at him gratefully before letting out a yawn. "Thank you for being so understanding. I hope the ceremony is in the afternoon, otherwise I don't think my feet will fit in my shoes." She gave him a funny sort of smile "Being pregnant is hard work."

With a small smile he kissed her lightly. "I do not doubt that."

----

When the Kazekage saw his wife in the ceremonial kimono that had once belonged to her mother, his only thought was that she was beautiful. Her robes were pristine white, her hair was in an elaborate style that he knew had probably taken hours. She wore little makeup, but she didn't need it. One could not tell she was pregnant due to the heavy robes, which was the only thing Gaara thought was off. The whole pregnant but not looking it bothered him for some reason. Naruto presided over the ceremony – he had his speech this time as Hiashi wouldn't allow him in otherwise – and it had taken less than thirty minutes. It had been just as simple as he had been told, a small audience of Hinata's closest relatives, a small but highly decorated room full of ancestral items, and the exchange of sake.

The reception was a different story. Since the Hyuuga estate was traditional in design several rooms were opened up to create one large room for all the guests. The amount of food placed was immense, as well as the size of their cake. Fresh flowers were the main decorum, consisting of carnations, roses, lilies, and one other flower Gaara couldn't readily identify. He came out to the awaiting crowd of people wearing his normal attire and could do nothing but blink at the large amount that had come in such a short amount of time. Many of them he didn't know, many of them he had seen before but never gotten to know them. All of them gave him their heartfelt congratulations and well wishes. The initial reception he received had shocked him.

"So, Hinata is truly leaving Konoha," a voice from behind him said. Gaara turned to face a tall man who was wearing a standard suit with shades on even in the dimly lit room. He recognized this man.

"You…are the one who fought my brother," Gaara remembered "he has spoken of you a few times."

"Aburame Shino, that is my name." The man adjusted his shades on his nose "Hinata has been my team mate and friend for many years," The corners of his lips twitched up just a bit "As is Inuzuka Kiba."

"He has already introduced himself to me," Gaara remarked "we had an interesting conversation."

While it was slightly unnerving that Gaara could not look into the eyes of the person he was speaking with, Shino did seem to relax and looked almost amused. "He and I have different methods of doing things, but when it comes to Hinata, we tend to have the same feelings. She is a very precious friend, so I am grateful for what you have done. If you had not shown up, her life would be much different. Naruto has always spoken highly of you; it is good to see he was correct."

"My reasons are selfish," he remarked honestly "even though I do not consider myself worthy of her, I have no intentions of letting her go and I have a difficult time wishing to share her with others."

"That type of love is supposed to be selfish," the Aburame's tone suggested that he felt this was inconsequential "If Hinata has chosen you, then you are worthy. I have never known Hinata to show bad judgment in those she allows close to her. You do her a disservice to believe otherwise."

The Kazekage blinked at this strange man. "You have…given me something to think about. I will take your words to heart." He decided to address one last thing "Inuzuka demanded to know my feelings for Hinata. I would like to be clear; I do love her."

The Aburame smiled thinly "So do we."

He was unable to ask what Shino meant by that as a commotion forced their attention to the door. A small crowd was gathering around as Hinata finally emerged. Her hair was partly down, a bun with various decorative pins on top. She had changed into a pale lavender kimono with a crane and sakura design with the bottom looking similar to a sunset. Her obi was pink and one had to look carefully to see the small bump at her stomach. Within a few strides he was beside his wife and they were inseparable for the most of the night. There was the cake cutting and the tossing of the bouquet that a girl with twin buns on her head had caught. He thought she looked familiar but couldn't quite place a name with face. He did notice that Hinata's cousin had looked rather apprehensive when the brunette walked over to show him her prize. There was a bit of dancing in which Gaara had to eventually give up his wife because it was 'polite' to allow her to dance with the other men. In an effort to not react jealously he ended up spending time in the garden outside until Hinata came to fetch him. He had refused to dance with anyone else but his wife and no one had pressured him. They ended up staying a little later than he had anticipated as Hinata had wanted to spend a little time with all of her friends and family before saying goodbye for good. Gaara would not deny her that.

Everything that the two of them could not comfortably carry was packed away and shipped to Suna ahead of them. Despite her protests she ended up being carried by sand for most of the return trip as he refused to allow her to walk if at all possible. When they finally reached the gates Hinata had taken his hand and flashed him a brilliant smile.

"It's good to be home."


	13. Chapter 13

AN: Thanks so much to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story. It is the last chapter and I really did have a ton of fun writing this one and _The Debut_. If you guys like Sasu/Hina, _A Traitor Branded_ is coming out to be a very long series, probably longer than even _The Debut_. For Gaa/Hina fans, I have an idea brewing in my head for another AU fic, my profile will have more info. Thank you all so much for your reviews and faves, you guys are awesomesauce.

**Chapter Thirteen**

"Gaara, do you want a boy or a girl?" Hinata asked her husband one day while leaning over a large potted plant. "You never mention it."

Gently, he helped her stand up straight before wrapping his arms around her, a hand sliding over her very large stomach.

"I want a child." He remarked simply.

Hinata sighed. There were times when his short answers and lack of elaboration made her want to kick at his shins. She had actually done it once in a hormonal fit over something she couldn't even remember anymore. Oh wait, it had been over chocolate. At the time she had started desperately craving chocolate and apparently it wasn't an item Suna held in abundance. It seemed silly now but at the time she had been so upset and devastated that she had cried and fussed and eventually kicked at him. A few days later Kankuro returned from his mission and had told his brother that under no certain circumstances would he ever detour to Konoha again just to get his wife some candy and – goddamnit - not to ever send him another 'bullshit order' like that again. But she had gotten her chocolate, a ridiculous amount that she was still nibbling on every now and then.

But this was different, it was really important to her and she wanted a real answer. "This is a really simple question. You have to pick one or the other and I already know you want a child, that's a given."

Her husband turned her around until she was facing him at arm's length. She saw it in his eyes, he was weighing his options.

_He's probably wondering if it's my hormones. Jerk._

They entered a staring contest. Hinata wasn't backing down this time, she was going to get a straight answer from her husband whether he liked it or not. When he closed his eyes and sighed she mentally danced a little jig. She loved winning these arguments.

She didn't get the answer she was expecting "What do you want me to want to have?"

The Kazekage's wife blinked at him dumbly "What."

"I am pretty sure this is a question that, if I don't answer in the manner you wish, will disappoint you. If I tell you I want a girl and you want a boy, you will be disappointed and vice versa. So, what do you _want_ me to want the gender to be?"

Hinata cried out in frustration and pushed at his chest, further annoyed when he didn't budge or let go of her. She was not going to cry over this. Gaara was being unreasonable and it wasn't fair. "I just want to know what you want! It's practically the same as a 'yes or no' question, one or the other. And I want to know what _you_ really want, not what I want you to want because I want you to want what you want and not what you think I want you to want."

He blinked at her again which meant that he was either confused or was about to refuse to answer her. Or both.

"And don't you dare try to not answer it!"

"Hinata," he began calmly, as if talking to a child "I can't answer your question because neither answer is applicable."

"…I'm not having an alien so I don't understand what you mean. I'm pretty sure the choices are girl or boy."

"If I answer your question honestly, you are going to become upset. I am being put in a difficult position because any option I choose will not be accepted."

"Gaara!" Hinata wanted to cry. Was it really that hard? Why was he being so difficult? "_Please_, I just want a real answer."

Her husband stared at her for another few moments, just long enough before she would become impatient "The answer is that it does not matter to me whether we have a boy or a girl. The gender will not change how I feel. I am content simply knowing that I…that I will become a father."

Well, it wasn't the answer she had been looking for, but it was the most wonderful answer he could have given. "Oh Gaara, you sound as if you never thought it could happen."

His silence was answer enough this time. Now she wanted to cry, but for a completely different reason.

-----

Hinata being in labor was the most painful thing he had ever had to experience and if he could help it, she would never become pregnant again. When she walked inside the kitchen looking as if she were about to collapse he had learned it was because her 'water had broken'. Contrary to what _he_ had thought birth entailed her water breaking did not mean the baby was going to come out 'any minute'. When they took her to the hospital he had expected to leave that evening with his wife and newborn child.

_I should have paid more attention when this was being discussed_. _Or fully read those books Hinata recommended._

Hours had passed yet Hinata had made no progress. Apparently that was considered 'normal' and no it did _not_ mean that there was something wrong with the baby, take her home for a while and try to get some rest.

Then it was time and the entire time Hinata had been miserable and in pain. Seeing her like that had been painful, yet he refused to leave her side. Since he had met her he had never heard Hinata so much as raise her voice – even when she became angry with him she had remained soft spoken – watching her scream because she was in so much pain had affected him in ways he did not wish to experience again. Guilt had hit him as if it were a physical force, feeling that he was at fault for her pain. If he had exercised better control or if he had stuck to his original plan to not become intimate she would not be in this position had been constant thoughts.

He had never felt so relieved when the doctor had told her "One last push".

A high pitched cry had emerged and a strange nervous sensation went through him. His wife had been pale, utterly exhausted and yet so unbelievably happy.

"Congratulations, you have a boy."

Gaara felt numb at first, listening to the tiny voice making itself known to the world. He watched as they cut the umbilical cord and wrapped his son – _his son_ – in a blanket and gave him to his mother. The tiny thing was arms and legs and he had found himself unable to tear his gaze away.

"Gaara?" Hinata's voice was tired but happy. Her gaze was inquisitive "Would you like to hold him?"

Hinata had told him later in a rather amused voice that the look he had given her when she asked that had been something along the lines of absolute horror. He had _felt_ terrified at the time, watching her hold something so tiny, so incredibly dependent on the ones who had brought him into the world. Gaara had been unable to do it and allowed the nurses to take the child to be cleaned and moved Hinata to the room she would be staying at for the next few days.

"Are you upset?" She had asked him once they had settled her in "You look so pale."

"I…was terrified;" he admitted "not of the child but…" he tried to think of the proper words "I was afraid I would have hurt him."

His wife had given him a reassuring and loving smile "I don't think you could ever hurt your son, Gaara. You wouldn't allow it."

The Kazekage had not shared her sentiments at the time. When they brought the baby into the room the nurses had him sit down on a chair. They had told him that this would help him feel more at ease when holding the baby, because he wouldn't feel as if he would drop and hurt him. It had helped and the nurses had been very patient with him, showing him how to position his arms – make sure you cradle the head – and very gently gave him his son.

The feeling he experienced was not something he could easily put into words. The child's eyes were closed shut and he seemed so _red_ and chubby yet Gaara could not help but feel that he was looking at something beautiful. His son squirmed, yawning slightly while making little fists in the air and he just stared.

_I will protect you_. He promised the tiny, fragile life in his arms. _No harm will ever come to you or your mother. Most importantly, you will know love. I swear it._

----

Yasashiku, Yasa for short, had decided that crayons and walls went perfect together.

Of course, no one else thought her son's artistic talents to be as amusing as she had felt they were. Hinata had been 'lightly' scolded for allowing her two year old son to decorate the outside of the Kazekage's door and walls. Yasa's father had found the entire ordeal amusing and pretended he heard nothing as one of the council members politely told her that the Kazekage, being the important man that he was, really couldn't receive important diplomats and guests with blue and pink scribbles on the door and walls.

Nevermind that Gaara had told her he would watch the child while she had gone to run errands and the only reason she was getting the blame was because she had been caught picking him up right as a council member was walking by. Hinata had tried very hard to be angry with her husband for letting her take the blame but she just found the entire situation too funny.

"You know, you could have at least attempted to look guilty," the Kazekage's wife set her son down on his desk and began to wipe at Yasa's colored hands and face. The child protested, squirming, but as a mother with two years experience she knew how to deal with it. Cleaned, she looked down at her son's chubby face. Green eyes so pale they looked almost white, similar to her pale lavender. His hair was dark red and as unruly as his father's.

"I can promise you that I will also be approached with the same complaints," the Kazekage remarked, sitting up in his chair. He lifted a hand and Hinata walked over, placing the tiny boy in his arms. "I think he is growing out of these pants."

His wife giggled "You said that last week."

"I still stand by what I said," his son tried to hand him a crayon from wherever he had been hiding it and Gaara gently put it to the side "you are simply trying to make me believe I don't know what I'm talking about."

"His pants –" she began and ignored the look her husband gave her "his pants are fine. They're not even an inch above his socks. You're overreacting and we both know it."

Instead of responding to her he lifted Yasa until the boy was eye level with him. "You and I are going shopping without your mother this weekend," he remarked calmly "and we will buy you clothes that fit properly." His son giggled happily in response.

Hinata sighed "I give up on you. Fine, his mother will just take a personal day and spend time with Temari-chan."

-----

His eyes were closed but he did not sleep. Beside him he felt his wife shift and she curled up at his side, a hand resting lightly on his chest, just above his heart.

"Gaara?" Her voice was soft "Are you asleep?"

"If I were, you would have awakened me."

He smiled when she bit his shoulder playfully and he put an arm around her bare shoulders.

"Gaara, it's been four years since we had Yasa, have you ever thought about having another baby?"

The Kazekage's eyes opened and he looked at his wife but found nothing revealing in her gaze. "I haven't." he responded honestly, frowning slightly. He was not entirely sure where she was going with this.

"W-well…would you…would you ever want to?"

He didn't answer her right away and she didn't press him for an answer. Eventually he spoke "When you were giving birth, it was…difficult watching you in so much pain. At the time, I had decided that we would not have any more children. Are you asking me because this is what you want?"

"No…I…" she looked away from him "You really don't want any more children?"

"I am content with Yasa. I…do not wish for you to suffer the same pain you did when you had him, but if you truly would like to have another child I will not protest or be angry." Her expression did not improve and he realized that she felt he hadn't answered her properly. "If you would like to have another child, Hinata, I would like to have another child."

She sighed in relief and looked up at him "I'm really happy to hear that…because I'm pregnant."

------

"It's mine now! Nyah!"

"Yasa give it back!"

Sakura sat with Hinata on a bench at a Suna playground watching their children bicker. Hinata's son, Yasa, was holding up in his hand a strange looking stuffed doll that looked strangely to her like Uchiha Sasuke. His other hand was pushing back a pink haired girl, a year younger than him, who was desperately trying to get her prized possession from him. When Sakura realized what it was Hinata's son was now claiming as his she slapped her hand over her face.

"Oh gods, how on earth did Akina ever get another one of _those_?" Sakura groaned "I thought I threw the other one away."

Hinata looked over at her friend, bouncing on her leg an extremely amused toddler at the scene being displayed for her.

"What is it?"

"It's a plushie. Of Sasuke." Sakura did not sound too pleased "My daughter has a crush like you wouldn't believe and she's only five. Naruto has threatened to beat Sasuke to a pulp if he even so much as contemplates coming near her." A sigh "I guess the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree…"

Haya, the toddler, began to squirm and complain when Hinata's leg stopped moving and she had to quickly shift to keep the girl from falling. "Haya, please don't do that."

Big, watery pale green eyes turned on their mother and Haya's face began to scrunch up in preparation for the tears she was about to produce. Suddenly, the little girl found herself being plucked up off her mother's knee and into the arms of her father.

"Don't cry," he said softly, putting a hand through her burgundy-colored hair. The Kazekage smiled down at his wife before walking around to sit beside her, holding his giggling squirmy daughter skillfully in his arms. He looked up at the children still fighting over the Sasuke plushie. "Yasa, that's enough. Give her back what she wants."

The two males locked into a small staring contest. Yasa tried to cheat by putting on his best 'sad face' and his father merely stared blankly back.

"B-but Papa!" the boy paused when he realized that he was dealing with his father and not his mother and possibly a different approach needed to be exercised "But she started it," he muttered under his breath "I'll give her back her silly-looking doll if she takes back what she said about me!"

"It's _not silly looking!_" Akina screamed at the boy, which, at five years old, was quite loud. "He's way cooler than you'll ever be anyway now gimme!"

The boy gave the girl a look that made him look strikingly like his father. "His head looks like the back of a duck's butt." He deadpanned.

Hinata immediately buried her face in Gaara's arm, her shoulders shaking. Even Sakura was trying to hold it in and not doing a very good job.

"You know," Gaara murmured to his wife "you are only encouraging this sort of behavior by laughing."

That only made her shoulders shake even harder.

"Yasashiku," the Kazekage cut in just in time to stop Akina from exploding "I will not repeat myself."

"And Akina," Sakura joined in, still laughing "apologize to Yasa for whatever it is you called him. I've told you about calling people names."

Both of the children stiffened and hesitated. It was getting serious.

"Here's your Duck Butt back," Yasa grumbled, shoving the stuffed plushie into the little girl's hands.

"Don't call him that!"

"Akina." Sakura's tone left no room for argument.

"I'm sorry I said your hair looked like a sprocket." She stuck her tongue out at him and he returned the favor.

All three adults looked at each other. What the hell was a 'sprocket'?

"Now go," Sakura waved an arm at the two of them "go play nicely_._ _Or else_."

"I-I'm so sorry…" Hinata emerged from her husband's arm, her hands covering her mouth as she continued to giggle "I just…he looked so serious and I just couldn't help it…"

"He looked just like Gaara and his voice was deadpan like his too." Sakura started laughing again "If Naruto were here he probably would have encouraged him."

"Where is Naruto-kun anyway?"

"He stayed behind to talk to a few dignitaries," Gaara explained "they're discussing potential candidates for the chunnin exam." His expression turned thoughtful as he adjusted his daughter "We only have a few that seem promising this time, a lot of the previous genin we had were promoted the last two exam periods."

"Hmmm…you know now that you mention it," Sakura leaned forward, resting her hand on her chin "Yasa and Akina are at the age where they could start going to the academy. Naruto's on the fence because she's 'Daddy's little girl' and you know what? I kinda am too. When I look at her and think about how she could end up on a dangerous mission or be killed, it's kind of scary." She looked at them "Is it like that for you guys?"

"Well…" Hinata hesitated "Yasa wants to be like his father, so he's actually already in the academy here. We did talk about it because I felt the same way you do…I still do sometimes." She turned and put an affectionate hand through her daughter's unruly hair "Gaara and I- we didn't have a choice as to whether or not we could become shinobi. It was expected of me as heir and Gaara…in any case, we eventually agreed that if our children decide a path that we should support them in it, even if we're scared of the outcome. So since Yasa said his dream was to become Kazekage like his father, we're going to support him. If Haya decides she wants to become a shinobi then we'll support her, but we want our children to be able to have that choice."

"That's pretty cool," Naruto said from behind, walking over and putting his arms around Sakura on the bench "I think I can get that. I mean in the end we all followed our own path, our own nindo right? It'd be messed up if we denied that to our kids…I guess…" he muttered the last part sadly and Sakura leaned back, patting his arm affectionately.

The five of them sat and watched the children play, breaking them up with verbal warnings when they got too 'rowdy'. Other kids from the area ended up joining in and soon all of them were running around and playing games.

"Hey, Gaara?" The Hokage looked over at the Kazekage from his side of the bench.

"Yes?"

"You know, I love you like a brother right?" When Naruto was greeted with silence he continued "I'm just saying, because it's cool that Aki and Yasa are playing now and all that but…"

"Naruto," Sakura warned "don't you dare start that."

"I'm just saying Sakura! Anyway, all I'm saying is when your kid hits puberty he needs to stay away from my daughter or I'm going to have to have a serious talk with him."

"Naruto!"

The Uzumaki's began to bicker and Hinata looked at her husband curiously. It was almost as if he hadn't even heard Naruto with the way he was paying attention to his daughter.

It was only after everyone quieted down and Sakura made Naruto apologize that Gaara spoke up.

"Only if you keep your daughter off of my son. Beyond that, I can make no guarantees."

----

One random night the Kazekage's wife asked if he could take her to their favorite spot in the village. During the beginning of their marriage Gaara had shown her four locations that he often went to which overlooked the entire village in a breathtaking view. He never did tell her that the view she had chosen as her favorite had also been his, but she had seemed to understand that.

So late that night he took his wife to one of the highest peaks along the border. Up so high, the village looked small but bright, thousands of lights were scattered along the domed buildings, giving the otherwise barren village a strange, earthly beauty. He held her against him, slightly shielding her from the wind.

"Gaara, do you believe in destiny?" His wife asked him.

There was a thoughtful pause. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"I mean, what if you had grown up without the demon and what if I hadn't been born a Hyuuga? Do you think that we would have found each other anyway? Do you think our lives would have been different?"

"Our lives would have been different, yes." He looked thoughtful and pulled his arms tighter around his wife's now-motherly frame "No one is born knowing what their life will be like. I would not be the person I am today had my father not sealed the demon inside of me and you would not be the person you are if you had been raised in another clan or even as a civilian. As two separate people with two separate lives and personalities, the odds of everything happening like they have in this life are nonexistent."

"Oh…"

"However," he continued "over the years that I have come to know you, I know that I cannot exist without you in my life. I am not 'Gaara' without 'Hinata'. In saying that, I am sure that this fact would be consistent no matter how our lives or personalities might have ended up. I believe that two halves of the same soul will eventually draw themselves together to become one. Does that answer your question?"

She spun and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down to her in a passionate kiss. His hands rose to frame her face, wiping away her tears.

"I love you," she sobbed, wiping at her face "I love you and our life and our children and there are times when I look at you and all I can think about is how happy I am that I've met you. They say that marriage and children sometimes diminishes the bond and love a couple have but I…I still feel as passionately in love with you as I had when I was twenty three and sometimes I would wonder if you still feel the same way now that we're so much older and…"

"Hinata."

His wife stopped and eventually her tears turned to sniffles. Dipping his head, he brushed his lips against hers lightly, almost chaste. He continued to kiss her, each kiss growing slightly firmer as he had that first night so many years ago.

"Hinata," he murmured against her lips "many things have changed between us over the years and if you've had doubts that means that I have not been showing you the depths of my feelings properly." When she opened her mouth to protest he silenced her with a brief kiss and continued "Out of all of the changes we have experienced together there has always remained one constant and I have expressed it verbally only a few times. I love you, and that feeling has not, nor will, ever change. You will always be beautiful to me no matter how much your shape changes or how old you will become. You are the _only_ woman I have ever loved, and I when I die I will take that love with me, but it will never, ever fade. I hold no regrets on how my life turned out, if I had to do it over again I would change nothing, especially if it meant I would be without you. I love you and I hope that I never give you reason to question that fact again."

She burst into tears again and he pulled her close, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" she sobbed "I love you…I love you so much…"

For the first time since they had been together Gaara chuckled "Yes, Hinata. I know."

AN: That's it gaiz! It's not mentioned in the last scene but they are in their late forties, in case you were wondering why she was spazzing out about being older (and thusly fearing that he found her to be less attractive).

For those who don't read _The Debut, _I do have another Gaa/Hina story in my head (GaaHina be my OTP yo) and I'll be putting up the general basis of it on my profile. The actual idea is based off of another fanfic I read but was never finished. I had thought it was an awesome premise although I'll be going a different route with it.

I hope you've enjoyed this fic and I thank all of you for your reviews and faves. I love writing and I love sharing it with others. I am content simply knowing that people enjoy it but I am also thankful to those who do leave reviews. You guys make me laugh or I'll nod my head at an opinion and it's really a lot of fun. Thanks so much to all of you.


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